They are just kids, but are becoming household names, at least in Canada. The 2025 World Junior Championship, which began December 26, ends in Ottawa tonight.

For the rest of the world, influenced by soccer, this is the U20 men’s hockey championship. We know differently. We use the terms we have always used and the rest of the world can cal it what they want.

After all we invented the game, though you’d never know it by recent results. For the second year running, Canada has finished out of the medal round. The team seemed at time to be sleepwalking through games, and by the time they woke up it was too late.

There are four teams still in medal contention, the USA, Czechia, Finland and Sweden. Two will play this afternoon for the Bronze medal, while the other two face off this evening looking for Gold and Silver. Given that Canada isn’t in the mix you can pick up tickets for under $100. If Canada had been playing the price would have been five or ten times that.

For many of these 16-20-year-olds, this will be the apex of their hockey careers. Others will go on to play professionally in North America or Europe, with a few becoming superstars.

It’s fun to watch the games. I’ve been following mostly on television, but did get to one game in person (Czechia against Switzerland, which is where the photos come from). They play like the pros, but when you see them up close you realize just how young some of these players are.

This tournament is a much bigger deal in Canada than elsewhere, which is why we host it every second year. The big Canadian crowds subsidize the smaller European events. Even with Canada not in the mix, you can expect 18,000 or more at today’s games.