Good morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans! The holidays have ended with the beginning of the 2024 Men's U20 World Championships!

We had four games to cover so here we go:

Game one: Slovakia 6 - Czechia 2

A pretty one-sided affair to kick things off. Minnesota Wild draft pick and Owen Sound Attack player Servác Petrovský as the star of the game with two goals and one assist.

Game two: Canada 5 - Finland 2

Canada began their title defence with a clear victory. The Leafs' own Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan were held off the score sheet, it's okay though they're saving it up for the big games. Scoring was pretty even with Nate Danielson (Red Wings / Wheat Kings) and Maveric Lamoureux (Coyotes / Voltiguers) being the only players with two points, 1G, 1A each.

Game three: USA 4 - Norway 1

The Americans vs the Norwegians to start? Okay, give them the easy opponent. Gavin Brindley (Blue Jackets / Michigan) scored twice to put Norway away.

Game Four: Sweden 6 - Latvia 0

Yikes. Okay, they had it easier. No one stood out too much though for Sweden. Two two goal scorers, but no one had more than two points. Jonathan Lekkerimäki (Canucks / Örebro HK) and Filip Bystedt (Sharks / Linköping HC) were your double dippers.

Today! (In Toronto times)

Slovakia vs Switzerland - 6AM
Finland vs Germany - 8:30AM
Norway vs Czechia - 11AM
Canada vs Latvia - 1:30PM

Minten and Cowan should score here, right?

After that fun at 1:30 we can watch the Maple Leafs take on the Ottawa Senators at 7:00PM for the annual Next Gen game!

Probably not at its usual 2:00PM start time to not distract from the World Juniors.

Enjoy your day everyone!

From The Branches