A regular fixture at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships over the past 16 years has been Norway, which often plays a good enough team game to put a scare into some of the elite teams but often lacks the firepower to put away the bottom feeders. As a result, the Norwegians consistently finish somewhere between advancement and relegation.

Historically, Norway has never medalled at the Worlds, with its best finish of fourth place coming in 1951. So far in the 21st Century, their best finish has been sixth in 2011, thanks to wins over Sweden and Switzerland. From that year – the first of two straight quarter-final appearances for Norway – four forwards remain on a Norwegian roster that has plenty of experience up front but is fairly young on the back end.

Of the 25 players that have so far been named to Norway’s preliminary roster, 19 have previous World Championship experience, starting with 90 games played by forwards Mathis Olimb and Martin Roymark. The Norwegian roster is made up largely of players from the domestic Ligaen, but there are also six who play in Sweden, two play in Germany, and one each in Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia and the United States.

Goaltending

Henrik Haukeland, 27, is the incumbent starting goalie of the national team, having played six of the seven games last year in Riga and all three Olympic Qualifying games in August. In both of those tournaments, Haukeland did a respectable job of keeping an offensively-challenged Norway squad in many games, posting goals-against averages under three. He just finished backstopping Red Bull Munich to the DEL finals in Germany, and therefore hasn’t so far been part of Norway’s preparations for this World Championship.

In the last few years, the backup has been veteran Henrik Holm, but if the Norwegians want to go younger in net, they might give the backup role to 24-year-old Jonas Antzen, who has spent the past three seasons as an SHL backup goalie with Orebro HK.

Defence

The most inexperienced part of this roster is its defensive corps, with the youngest player named so far being 21-year-old Emil Martinsen Lilleberg and the oldest 30-year-old Daniel Boen Rokseth. At 188 cm and 95 kg, the biggest defenceman on the roster is 23-year-old Max Krogdahl. Johannes Johannesen and Mattias Norstebo, who both play in the Swedish second-division Allsvenskan, are the most internationally experienced d-men with three previous World Championships, and are also two of the more offensive-minded players on Norway’s back end.

Lilleberg, an Arizona Coyotes prospect, also has size but went goalless with seven assists in 57 SHL regular-season and playoff games with IK Oskarshamn. The only defenceman Norway still has in North America is 19-year-old Ole Bjorgvik-Holm, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect who is currently playing for the Mississauga Ice Dogs in the OHL playoffs. Bjorgvik-Holm played in last year’s Worlds as an 18-year-old and this year was Norway’s captain at the U20 Worlds Division I Group A, where he led all defencemen with six points in five games.

If there’s an up side to all this youth, it’s that Norway might have more speed and skill on the back end. If there’s a down side, it might be more prone to defensive mistakes.

Forwards

In contrast with the young defence, Norway possesses a veteran group of forwards with a fair amount of international experience. The leader is 36-year-old playmaking centre Mathis Olimb, a veteran of 14 World Championships, who last year in Riga became the country’s all-time scoring leader at the Worlds. After spending the majority of his career abroad in the OHL, AHL, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Germany, Olimb returned home to Valerenga Oslo in Norway this past season, where he was a point-per-game player.

Other key forwards include Mathis’ brother Ken Andre Olimb, Mats Rosseli Olsen, Michael Haga, Mathias Trettenes and Andreas Martinsen, who all play abroad and are all at least 28. Martinsen is the only player currently on the roster with NHL experience, having suited up for 152 games for the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks between 2015 and 2019.

Of course, the best Norwegian forward is Mats Zucharello, who is currently engaged in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the Minnesota Wild. If he were to join this team, the complexion of Norway’s offence would improve immensely. Another possible reinforcement could be 22-year-old Calgary Flames prospect Mathias Emilio Pettersen, whose Stockton Heat missed the AHL playoffs.

Coaching

Back for his fifth World Championship behind Norway’s bench is Petter Thoresen, the long-time Norwegian national team player from the 1980s and ‘90s and father of Patrick and Steffen Thoresen.

With Thoresen at the helm, Norway has avoided relegation and qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics, and the key to that has generally been keeping the same group of players together into a system they are well familiar with. The Norway is bringing a familiar group of forwards, for the most part, the challenge for Thoresen and his staff will be getting them and a relatively inexperienced group on the back end to all play together in a cohesive unit that can ill afford to make mistakes.

Predicted results

Norway has played continuously in the elite division since 2006, last made the quarter-finals in 2012, and has hovered between fifth and seventh in its group ever since. Odds are, the Norwegians will fall into that area again.

Last year, Norway finished seventh in its group but played the role of spoiler with wins over Latvia and Kazakhstan that were critical in hindering each team’s quarter-final bid. This year, they’d like to be the ones bidding themselves but will need at least one win against Finland, Sweden, Czechia and the USA – a tall order. On the other hand, wins against Austria and Great Britain will be crucial to avoid relegation.