As is tradition, the 2019 World Junior Championship officially drops the puck on Boxing Day. This year’s version starts with an impressive schedule of games on day one.
The early games start at 9 AM ET with underdog Kazakhstan starting their campaign to try to stave off relegation against Switzerland while one of the favorites, Russia, takes on the host Czech Republic. The late games beginning at 1 PM ET are even more stacked with two high end rivalry matchups. USA faces off against Canada while Sweden plays Finland. Both of these are premiere pairings that should give us an early read on four of the strongest contenders in this year’s tournament.