Brandon Wheat Kings captain Nate Danielson had a goal and an assist as Canada won its preliminary round opener 5-2 over Finland at the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden. Owen Allard and Macklin Celebrini also scored for the Canadians who got empty net goals from Matthew Poitras and Maveric Lamoureux. Dominion City's Denton Mateychuk drew an assist on Danielson's first period goal and Conor Geekie of Strathclair assisted on Poitras' empty netter. Mathis Rousseau made 24 saves. Team Canada's next game is today (12:30 p.m.) against Latvia. 


Justin Falk of the Winkler Flyers, Paul Dyck of the Steinbach Pistons and Eric Labrosse of the OCN Blizzard are the head coaches for the three Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams that will participate in the MJHL-SJHL Showcase January 30th & 31st at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex in Winnipeg. Falk will be behind the bench for Team 20U Red; Dyck is the head coach for Team 20U Black and Labrosse will look after Team 18U White. The three teams representing each league will consist of players aged 16 to 20 who will be selected by the coaches from their respective leagues. One team will be comprised of players who are 18 and under and two teams will be made up of players who are 20 and under. Each team will play two games during the high-performance event.


The Christmas break is over for the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets meet the Blackhawks tonight in Chicago. Winnipeg (20-9-3) is in third place in the NHL's Central Division. The Jets are one point back of the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche who share top spot in the division. 


Jonathan Hazen had two goals and an assist and Aaron Dell stopped 30 shots as Canada blanked Frolunda HC at the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland. Ty Smith and Corban Knight also scored for the Canadians who face host HC Davos on Thursday.