What to know for the world junior hockey championship

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Last year's world junior hockey championship was as good as it gets. A record-breaking Canadian superstar put on a show for the ages, the Halifax arena that hosted the big games was packed to the gills with boisterous, joyful fans, and the gold-medal match ended in a thrilling overtime victory by the home team.

It will be a tough act to follow. This year's world juniors are happening overseas, far away from their core fanbase, the Canadian team does not look as strong and, of course, there's no Connor Bedard.

But there are still some interesting angles to follow when the tournament opens on Boxing Day in Gothenburg, Sweden, including another 17-year-old Canadian star who's expected to go No. 1 in the NHL draft. Here's what to know:

Canada is going for a rare threepeat.

These days, even a repeat is unusual. Before Bedard helped Canada capture back-to-back titles, no country had won consecutive world juniors since Canada took five straight from 2005-09. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, the '05 tournament featured Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, and Canada's top two scorers were Patrice Bergeron and Ryan Getzlaf, who are now retired.

Like last year, Canada's road to gold will be smoother than normal with Russia still banned from international hockey due to the invasion of Ukraine. But, with the Canadian roster almost completely turned over from the one we saw in Halifax, the title looks very much up for grabs. The betting markets see it as essentially a three-way tossup between Canada, the United States and host Sweden, while also giving Finland a decent shot.

It's a new-look Canadian team.

The most conspicuous absence is Bedard, who lit up the past two world juniors. As a rare 16-year-old selection for the Canadian team two years ago in Edmonton, Bedard became the youngest player in tournament history to score four goals in a game. Last year in Halifax, he potted nine goals in seven games and racked up a Canadian-record 23 points. Bedard has since taken his talents to Chicago, where he's running away with the NHL's rookie-of-the-year race with 28 points (including 12 goals) in 31 games.

Bedard was far from Canada's only loss, though. The only player returning from last year's gold-medal team is forward Owen Beck, a 2022 second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens' who dressed for only three games in Halifax and recorded one assist.

NHL fans may know a few more Canadian players, including 19-year-old Boston Bruins rookie forward Matthew Poitras, who joined Team Canada on Monday as a last-minute loan. The 2022 second-round draft pick, who did not play for Canada last year, has five goals and eight assists in 27 games for the Bruins.

The vast majority of Canada's players have already been drafted, but only three have played in a meaningful NHL game. Defenceman Tristan Luneau was loaned by Anaheim after playing seven games for the Ducks this season; forward Fraser Minten appeared in four games for Toronto before being sent back to the Western Hockey League; and forward Matthew Savoie was shipped back to the WHL after one game with Buffalo.

Oliver Bonk's last name might ring a bell. His Czech dad, Radek Bonk, played 14 seasons in the NHL — mostly with Ottawa, where Oliver was born.

Macklin Celebrini is this year's Connor Bedard.

That's an unfair comparison for Celebrini because, by all accounts, he's not quite the generational talent that Bedard proved to be. But they do share some similarities, starting with the fact that they're both forwards from the Vancouver area.

Like Bedard, Celebrini is the rare 17-year-old on a Canadian junior team made up mostly of guys who are 19. And he's expected to follow Bedard as the next No. 1 pick in the NHL draft.

Echoes of Bedard can also be seen in Celebrini's precocious scoring ability. As the youngest player in NCAA men's hockey this season, the Boston University freshman has 10 goals and 25 points in just 15 games for the Terriers, who are ranked No. 2 in the country.

Teammates and coaches at Canada's training camp in Oakville, Ont., raved about Celebrini's mature game. His skating, playmaking, puck skills and competitiveness at both ends of the rink are considered exceptional and, like Bedard, he's got a great shot. Read more about Celebrini here.

Canada's schedule:

The defending champs open against Finland on Boxing Day at 8:30 a.m. ET before facing Latvia (Dec. 27 at 1:30 p.m. ET), Sweden (Dec. 29 at 1:30 p.m. ET) and Germany (Dec. 31 at 1:30 p.m. ET) to close out the group stage. The other group has the U.S., the Czech Republic (who Canada beat in the final last year), Slovakia, Switzerland and Norway. 

The top four in each group advance to the quarterfinals on Jan. 2. In that round, each group's No. 1 team faces the opposite group's No. 4 team while No. 2 crosses over to play No. 3. The winners are then re-seeded for the semifinals on Jan. 4. The medal games are on Friday, Jan. 5.