The IIHF World Junior Championships regularly feature the top under-20 hockey players from around the world going head-to-head. This year, several players who take a regular shift on CHL clubs will represent various European countries.

CHL News

All eight European teams at this year's IIHF World Junior Championship have at least one player from a CHL club on their rosters, ranging from one on Russia – IFK Helsinki's Nikolai Goldobin – to 12 each on Finland and Sweden – the two teams that met in last year's final. 

Some of the players have been particulary key members of their CHL clubs. Swede Lucas Wallmark of Frolunda Gothenburg is tied for eighth in league scoring with 11 points in 10 games and has a chance to add to that total in the semi-finals,while Slovak Martin Reway of Sparta Prague recorded eight points in eight games. Goaltender Ville Husso, who appeared in all 10 of IFK Helsinki's CHL games this year, will battle for the starting job for Team Finland at this year's WJC. Other players of note include the aforementioned Goldobin, Czech Jakub Vrana of Linkoping HC and Finn Juuso Ikonen of JYP Jyvaskyla.

This year's tournament begins on 26 December with the final being played 5 January in Toronto. 

Below are players from this year's CHL clubs that have made the final rosters of their under-20 national teams. Players from the four remaining teams in Europe's club hockey championship – Frolunda Gothenburg, Lulea Hockey, Karpat Oulu and Skelleftea AIK – are listed in bold. 

CZECH REPUBLIC – Goal: Miroslav Svoboda (Trinec), Vitek Vanecek (Liberec). Defence: Jan Scotka (Pardubice), Lukas Klok, Jan Stencel (both Vitkovice), David Nemecek (TPS). Forward: Jakub Vrana (Linkoping), Marek Ruzicka (Trinec), Michael Spacek (Pardubice), Patrik Zdrahal (Vitkovice).

DENMARK – Goal: Thomas Lillie (Vaxjo). Defence: Daniel Hansen (SonderjyskE). Forward: Kristian Jensen (Lulea).

FINLAND – Goal: Ville Husso (IFK Helsinki). Defence: Joonas Lyytinen (KalPa), Atte Makinen (Tappara), Sami Niku (JYP). Forward: Sebastian Aho, Antti Kalapudas, Jesse Puljujarvi (all Karpat), Juuso Ikonen (JYP), Kasperi Kapanen (KalPa), Artturi Lehkonen (Frolunda), Mikko Rantanen, Julius Vahatalo (both TPS), Otto Rauhala (Tappara).

GERMANY – Goal: Ilja Sharipov (Salzburg). Defence: Jonas Muller (Berlin), Fabio Wagner (Ingolstadt). Forward: Marc Schmidpeter (Ingolstadt), Fabio Pfol (Koln), Vladislav Filin, Maximilian Kammerer, Andreas Eder (all Salzburg). 

RUSSIA – Forward: Nikolai Goldobin (IFK Helsinki).

SLOVAKIA – Defence: Erik Cernak (Kosice), Christian Jaros (Lulea). Forward: Martin Reway (Sparta), Peter Cehlarik (Lulea).

SWEDEN – Goal: Samuel Ward (Lulea), Linus Soderstrom (Djurgarden), Fredrik Bergvik (Frolunda). Defence: Sebastian Aho (Skelleftea), Robin Norell, Andreas Englund (both Djurgarden), Gustav Forsling (Linkoping). Forward: Anton Blidh, Christoffer Ehn, Anton Karlsson (all Frolunda), Lucas Wallmark (Lulea), Axel Holmstrom (Skelleftea). 

SWITZERLAND – Goal: Gauthier Descloux (Geneve), Ludovic Waeber (Fribourg). Defence: Edson Harlacher (Kloten), Jonas Siegenthaler (Zurich). Forward: Kevin Fiala (HV71), Luca Hischier (Bern), Michael Hugli (Zug), Denis Malgin (Zurich), Noah Rod (Geneve).