Team Canada set itself up well confidence-wise with a resounding 13-2 win over Denmark in its final pre-tournament game on Christmas Day. More good news for Team Canada is that it was led by Gavin McKenna’s 5-point night (2G 3A) in this contest. Featuring a large CHL flavor, the Canadians square off against Czechia at 7:30 p.m. (Central Time) today in tournament action.
Likewise, Team USA experienced success in its final pre-tournament matchup versus Finland on December 23. Led by prolific NCAA scorers Will Horcoff of the University of Michigan and Max Plante of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the Americans skated to a 3-1 victory over Team Finland. Team USA also begins tournament action today as it faces Team Germany at 5:00 p.m. central time.
Attached are final rosters for Teams Canada and USA. Also attached is a very informative article by the Daily Faceoff regarding arguably the top 15 drafted NHL prospects to watch at this year’s tournament.
Personally, there are three players on the Daily Faceoff list to whom I’ll pay particular attention. The first is Chicago prospect Anton Frondell of Sweden, as in my prior viewings of Frondell he hasn’t stepped up and controlled games like I’d expect a player of his caliber to do. The second is Philadelphia prospect Porter Martone of Canada, just to monitor the continued development of a player I consider to be a quintessential NHL player in the making. Last but least, I am very interested in seeing if Seattle prospect Julius Miettinen of Finland becomes the go-to guy offensively in the absence of Buffalo prospect Konsta Helenius (the Sabres did not agree to loan out Helenius for this tournament).
https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2026/wm20/teams/roster/65890/canada
https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/wm18/teams/roster/61514/united_states