St. Paul, Minn. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – It’s the most wonderful time of the year in the hockey world, as the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship is set to get underway on Friday in Minnesota. It is the first time the United States has hosted the tournament since 2018 when it was held in Buffalo.

Speaking of the United States, the country is in the midst of its best run at the World Juniors, going back-to-back for the first time ever in the history of the tournament in 2024 and 2025. The last time a nation has three-peated in the tournament was Canada when they won five tournaments in a row from 2005-09.

While in years past the Buffalo Sabres have had a plethora of prospects representing the team at the top junior hockey tournament in the world, this year will feature only four prospects participating, with three of them representing the defending champions in the tournament.

Returning to the United States’ roster from the 2025 tournament are winger Brodie Ziemer and defenseman Adam Kleber, who took home the gold medal in Ottawa after a thrilling gold medal victory over Finland.

Ziemer, Buffalo’s third-round pick (71st overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft, was a very strong two-way presence for the U.S. at last year’s tournament, mainly serving as a middle-six forward that could jump up the lineup, if needed. In seven games played last year, the Chaska, Minn. native put up three goals and four assists for seven points.

This year, Ziemer is likely going to be relied upon not just as a top-six forward, but also a leader of the group as one of eight returning players from last year. Just before the tournament on Thursday, Ziemer was named the captain of Team USA at this year’s World Juniors.

Your 2026 #WorldJuniors leadership group!

Brodie Ziemer will lead Team USA as Captain 🫡 with alternate captains James Hagens, Cole Hutson, Max Plante and Teddy Stiga by his side! 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/WFcsff4DPN

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) December 25, 2025

So far through pre-tournament action, Ziemer has lined up on the right wing with Will Horcoff (Pittsburgh Penguins) and James Hagens (Boston Bruins), and has been the net-front presence for the Americans on their second power play unit.

So far this season as a Sophomore at the University of Minnesota, the 19-year-old has been a point per-game player for the Golden Gophers with 19 points (12+7) in 19 games played.

Kleber is another player on the U.S. roster that is expected to see his role grow in his second go-around at the World Juniors.

Last year, Buffalo’s second-round pick (42nd overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft was mainly a bottom-pair defenseman, even serving as the seventh defender in the lineup or being a healthy scratch. Despite that, Kleber still appeared in six games and put up an assist, while registering a +5 rating.

After being a healthy scratch for the Americans’ first pre-tournament game, the 19-year-old was paired with Cole Hutson (Washington Capitals) on the top defensive pairing for their second pre-tournament game against Finland. It’s possible the big right-shot defenseman could get a reasonable amount of minutes in this year’s tournament, while also being relied upon as a solid defensive presence in his own end.

In 20 games played this season as a Sophomore at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Kleber has scored a pair of goals and added three assists for five points.

The other Sabres prospect joining Ziemer and Kleber on this year’s U.S. roster is 2024 fourth-round (108th overall) defenseman Luke Osburn.

One of the youngest players from the 2024 draft class, Osburn has been a bit of a revelation as a Freshman at the University of Wisconsin with eight points (2+6) in 12 games played with the Badgers.

While not the biggest or strongest presence on the blue line, Osburn is quite nimble and instinctual on the ice, especially in the offensive end. He’s not afraid to jump into the offensive attack when the opportunity presents itself, and he can maneuver around the ice well with his great edge work and light presence on his feet. He’s also a very heady player with great hands to make some solid passes around the ice to create scoring chances.

In his two pre-tournament games against Germany and Finland, he combined for five points (1+4) while playing one game in a top-pairing role and the other as a bottom-pair defenseman.

It’ll be interesting to see how the U.S. utilizes Osburn in this tournament, but he certainly can be a very solid depth presence on the American blue line, and give the home nation a nice offensive boost when needed.

Meanwhile, one of Buffalo’s top prospects is set to make his World Juniors debut with Czechia, who is hoping to medal for a fourth-straight tournament, only this time going all the way to win the gold in Minnesota.

Radim Mrtka was the Sabres’ first-round pick (9th overall) in the 2025 NHL Draft, and is likely one of the future defensive stalwarts for the Czech National Team for years to come.

So far this season, Mrtka has thrived as a top defenseman with the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League, producing 16 points (1+15) in 14 games played. While, by no means, is Mrtka the most threatening defender offensively, he’s certainly get the skating skills and stick work that make him a promising two-way defensive prospect.

Mrtka even got the chance to spend a brief period playing in the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans this season, where he played four games and registered an assist as an 18-year-old.

The other top defensive prospect playing for Czechia in this tournament is 2024 first-round pick Adam Jiricek (St. Louis Blues), who is likely to be their top right-shot defenseman with Mrtka right behind on the second pairing. Despite likely being a second-pair defenseman, still expect the 6-foot-6, 218-pounder to eat a ton of minutes for the Czech team in this tournament, while being looked upon to be a physical, two-way contributor from the blue line.

Perhaps the surprise of this year’s tournament in Minnesota will be the absence of Konsta Helenius, who was not loaned by the Sabres to play for Finland.

Helenius has been a staple of the Finnish National Team over the last two World Junior tournaments, where he produced eight points (1+7) in 14 games played as a 17- and 18-year-old. His six assists in last year’s tournament in Ottawa put him in a tie for the fourth-most among those participating.

After a slow start to last season as an 18-year-old in the AHL with the Amerks, Helenius picked up his play and finished his first season in North America with a respectable 14 goals and 21 assists for 35 points in 65 games. He added another six points (3+3) in eight playoff games for Rochester.

This season, Helenius has carried over his strong play from the end of last year, producing at nearly a point per-game pace in Rochester with 26 points (9+17) in 27 games played. That puts him atop the scoring leaders among forwards with the Amerks, only trailing defenseman Zac Jones with 28 points (2+26) in 24 games played.

With no Helenius participating in the World Juniors, Finland will have to rely on some of their other top prospects to carry the load on the roster, including Emil Hemming (Dallas Stars), Aatos Koivu (Montreal Canadiens), Heikki Ruohonen (Philadelphia Flyers), Joona Saarelainen (Tampa Bay Lightning) and captain Aron Kiviharju (Minnesota Wild).

The 2026 World Junior Championship kicks off Friday with four games on the docket:

– Sweden vs. Slovakia – 1 p.m. EST
– Denmark vs. Finland – 3:30 p.m. EST
– Germany vs. United States – 6 p.m. EST
– Czechia vs. Canada – 8:30 p.m. EST