For many people, Christmas Day means celebrating with family and exchanging presents. For millions of hockey fans, it means the countdown to the IIHF World Junior Championship is on. And at eight of the 44 all-time World Juniors (18.1 percent), games have actually been played on 25 December.

We’re getting ready to add to that total since the 2021 tournament in Edmonton will kick off with three Christmas Day games: Slovakia-Switzerland, Finland-Germany, and United States-Russia.

With these World Juniors taking place in a bubble format like the successful 2020 NHL playoffs in Edmonton and Toronto, Rogers Place, the lone host arena, will host three games per day on five of the six preliminary-round days.

So right now is a good time to give you our list of the 5 greatest World Junior games ever played on Christmas Day.

1) A Feast of Firsts

25 December 1976: Canada 4, Czechoslovakia 4

Nobody knew exactly what to expect at the first official World Juniors in 1977 – except that the Soviet Union was favored to win gold after capturing the three preceding unofficial titles. However, the host Czechoslovakians and the Canadians put on an exciting show in Zvolen on Christmas Day.

Dale McCourt captained the OHL’s St. Catharines Fincups, who had been selected to represent Canada that year after winning the 1976 Memorial Cup (as the Hamilton Fincups). The 19-year-old centre – a future 532-game NHLer and cult player with Switzerland’s HC Ambri-Piotta – dazzled with three unassisted goals on goalie Jiri Cerveny in this 4-4 tie, including the equalizer with 19 seconds left. McCourt would earn the tournament scoring title with a Canadian record of 18 points that still stands.

Another milestone was the first penalty shot in World Junior history, with Canada’s Al Jensen stopping Jozef Lukac. The Kosice-born forward would enjoy a long, fruitful collaboration with his older brother Vincent on their hometown club. Jensen’s NHL career highlight was sharing the 1984 Jennings Trophy (lowest total goals-against) with Pat Riggin on the Washington Capitals.

Coach Bert Templeton’s Fincups, bolstered by other OHL luminaries like Ron Duguay and Rob Ramage, ultimately claimed silver behind the Soviets, while Czechoslovakia got the bronze.

2) Gretzky Goes Wild

25 December 1977: Canada 9, Czechoslovakia 3

Jaromir Sindel had a long, distinguished career between the pipes as a two-time Olympian and 1985 World Championship gold medalist. However, the Czech goalie probably doesn’t cherish the memory of his first international meeting with Wayne Gretzky. In that 9-3 blowout at the storied Montreal Forum, the prodigious 16-year-old centre racked up a hat trick and three assists en route to his tournament-leading 17 points.

Characteristically modest, Gretzky said afterwards that he thought he was fortunate to score two of his three goals: “I thought their defence was going to stop me both times, but they let me beat them. The puck was just bouncing my way.”

At these 1978 World Juniors, Canada boasted a full-fledged national all-star team under coach Ernie “Punch” McLean. Gretzky’s line featured Wayne Babych and Tony McKegney, and future members of the NHL’s 1,000-point club like Mike Gartner and Bobby Smith also made the cut. However, losses to the gold-medal Soviets and silver-medal Swedes – led by tournament all-stars Vyacheslav Fetisov and Mats Naslund respectively – left the host nation in third place.

3) Finns Begin With a Win

25 December 1997: Finland 3, Canada 2

In his World Junior debut as Finland’s head coach, Hannu Kapanen couldn’t have asked for a better omen. This 3-2 victory over the five-time defending champion Canadians at Helsinki’s brand-new Hartwall Arena set the tone for the rest of the tournament. The confidence the host Finns showed in outshooting Canada 38-18 in a penalty-filled affair carried over into an undefeated record.

The third-period winner with 3:40 remaining was prophetic in itself. Future three-time Olympian Niklas Hagman, playing in his second World Juniors, got the goal, with an assist going to HIFK teammate Olli Jokinen. Fast-forward to the gold medal game against Russia, where Hagman would notch the 2-1 overtime winner on a Jokinen set-up in front of an ecstatic capacity crowd of 13,655. This marked Finland’s second World Junior title ever.

Finnish ice wasn’t as kind in 1998 to Canadian coach Real Paiement and his squad, which featured Alex Tanguay, Vincent Lecavalier, and Roberto Luongo. After falling 2-1 in OT to the Russians in the quarter-finals, they imploded, losing the seventh-place game 6-3 to underdog Kazakhstan. It remains the worst finish in Canadian World Junior history.

4) Swiss Heroes, Finnish Zeros

25 December 2001: Switzerland 3, Finland 0

More than 90,000 people live in the Czech city of Hradek Kralove, and it would have been nice if more than 462 spectators had attended Switzerland and Finland’s opener However, coach Jakob Kolliker’s boys were hardly complaining as they put together the first Swiss shutout in World Junior history versus the Finns.

Goalie Tobias Stephan shone in net and modestly gave the credit to his mates, including soon-to-be senior team fixtures like Andres Ambuhl and Severin Blindenbacher, for “playing well for 60 minutes.”

However, for the Swiss, this wasn’t the Christmas gift that kept on giving. They had a pretty good run, edging Slovakia 3-2 in the quarter-finals on Sven Helfenstein’s shootout goal. However, a 4-0 semi-final loss to Canada and a 5-1 defeat against Finland in the bronze medal game ended the dream of medaling for the first and only time since 1998’s bronze.

5) Cold War Rivals Duke It Out

25 December 2004: USA 5, Russia 4

High-scoring World Junior games are nothing new. However, American fans who attended their national team’s opening victory at the luxurious Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota got an unusual treat. How so? All nine goals were scored before the halfway mark.

Coach Scott Sandelin’s U.S. boys never trailed, jumping out to a 2-0 lead before the game was six minutes old on goals by Drew Stafford and Chris Bourque. Yet the Russians fought back with a late first-period flurry and Alexander Ovechkin made it 3-3 at 18:41.

“I thought it might be a 9-8 game the way that first period was going,” Sandelin quipped.

At the end of the third period, “The Great 8,” who had two points, missed a one-timer opportunity to knot the score, and that meant Dan Fritsche’s second goal of the game – a shorthanded marker at 8:40 of the middle frame – stood up as the 5-4 winner.

Both powerhouse nations would go on to medal, with coach Valeri Bragin’s team taking silver and the Americans bronze. However, Canada, which initiated an all-time record 20-game winning streak on Christmas Day with a 7-3 romp over Slovakia, was not to be denied, claiming gold with Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, and Jeff Carter driving the bus.