+ What: Junior World Championship in ice hockey.
+ When: December 26-January 6.
+ Where: Canadian Tire Centre and TD Place, Ottawa, Canada.
+ TV: SVT and Viaplay are broadcasting the tournament.
+ How it's decided.
Ten nations are participating and are divided into two groups, the top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals. The two bottom teams play a qualifying match, where the winner stays in the A World Championship and the loser is relegated.
Group division, group A (Canadian Tire Centre): Canada, Finland, Germany, Latvia, USA.
Group B (TD Place): Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland.
Sweden's matches:
December 26: 18.00 Slovakia (SVT).
December 27: 23.00 Kazakhstan (SVT).
December 29: 18.00 Switzerland (Viaplay/TV6).
December 31: 23.00 Czech Republic (Viaplay/TV6).
Quarterfinals are played on January 2 and 3, semifinals on January 4 and 5, bronze match on January 5, and the final on January 6, Swedish time.
+ Long gold drought.
It's almost 13 years since Sweden won gold – then as now on Canadian soil. Mika Zibanejad's overtime winner against Russia in Calgary 2012 is a classic.
Last year, Sweden reached the final on home soil in Gothenburg, but lost to the USA with big numbers, 2–6, after three American goals in the final period.
The last time the tournament was played in Ottawa, 2009, it was also Swedish silver after a final loss to Canada.
+ The people's love for the Junior World Championship.
Swedes on Christmas and New Year's break have learned to love the joyful and often unpredictable junior tournament. Last year, almost three million watched SVT's final broadcast, and the Scandinavium was packed when Sweden played.
+ Nine returnees seeking revenge.
Nine players from the silver team in Gothenburg are part of Sweden's team in Ottawa. Among those seeking revenge are star defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka, Skellefteå, and forward Felix Unger Sörum, in Carolina's farm team Chicago Wolves, who played with Tre Kronor in the "big" World Championship in May.
+ The top talents to keep an eye on.
18-year-old American center James Hagens is many people's favorite to go first in the NHL draft this summer. He broke the all-time point record when he led the USA to gold in the U18 World Championship last spring. College player Hagens, Boston College, scored 22 points (9 goals+13 assists) in 7 matches.
Canadian defenseman Matthew Schaefer is the top challenger after a strong fall in the Canadian junior league OHL, where he scored 22 points (7+15) in 17 matches.
