Any World Junior hockey captain would love to have his coach talk about him the way Finland’s Antti Pennanen described Roni Hirvonen after their opening 3-1 win over Germany on Sunday.
Asked to define what distinguishes the 19-year-old HIFK Helsinki forward and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, Pennanen said, “His leadership skills. The other players respect him a lot. Of course, he is a good hockey player. That's an important thing. He’s young, but he is still a pretty mature person, humble and coachable.”
When you possess qualities like that, the sky is the limit. And Hirvonen isn’t alone. He will have plenty of competition for the title of Best Captain in Edmonton and Red Deer in 2022, from Canada’s Kaiden Guhle to Sweden’s Emil Andrae to the U.S.’s Jake Sanderson.
It’s a privilege to wear the “C” at this tournament. It’s also part of a tradition of excellence. To do justice to all the great captains that have played at this tournament since its 1977 debut in Czechoslovakia would require a book as thick as Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.
So in chronological order, we’ve spotlighted seven captains hailing from seven global hockey powers. Not all of them have come home with World Junior gold medals hanging around their necks. But win or lose, all of them have left their mark on hockey history.
1) Alexander Mogilny (Soviet Union, 1989)
If you saw Alexander Mogilny captaining the Soviets to gold in Anchorage, Alaska, you would have expected him to equal or better the 76 goals and 127 points that marked his NHL peak with the Buffalo Sabres in 1992-93 – every single year.
On a deadly line with Pavel Bure and Sergei Fyodorov, Mogilny scored a natural hat trick in the second period of a 7-2 demolition of Canada, and his speed and stickhandling generated the kind of excitement that Connor McDavid creates today. The Khabarovsk-born right wing finished the tournament with seven goals and 12 points.
2) Markus Naslund (Sweden, 1993)
Despite dominating the 1993 World Juniors alongside Peter Forsberg and Niklas Sundstrom and setting the single-tournament goals record (13), Markus Naslund didn’t come away as a champion on home ice in Gavle, Sweden.
That’s always made “Nazzy” ambivalent about his longstanding record. However, it also speaks to his commendable, outspoken honesty as a captain. The Vancouver Canucks great told IIHF.com in 2015: “I don’t know if it means a whole lot. It was a fun memory playing in the World Junior tournament. But we lost the gold medal, and that’s what I remember the most. We lost 5-4 to Canada. In my mind, we were the best team in the tournament. That’s been the story of my life, always winning the silver!”
3) Milan Kraft (Czechia, 2000)
Milan Kraft can claim multiple distinctions as a World Junior captain. First, the slick Plzen-born centre was easily the most dangerous offensive force (7+5=12) on coach Jaroslav Holik’s first of two ultra-defensive, championship-winning squads. In addition, Kraft, a tournament all-star, finished behind only Henrik Sedin (4+9=13) and right ahead of Daniel Sedin (6+4=10) in these World Juniors in the northern Swedish cities of Skelleftea and Umea.
But it wasn’t just about stealing the thunder from Sweden, which finished a disappointing fifth. Kraft’s Czechs also dethroned the Russians – who famously won gold in Winnipeg in 1999 on Artem Chubarov’s 3-2 overtime winner on Roberto Luongo – by throttling them in a 1-0 shootout final. To forever have your name inscribed next to the year 2000? That’s pretty cool.
4) Derek Stepan (U.S., 2010)
Derek Stepan has earned nearly $48 million USD in his NHL career, but the biggest thing he’s ever won remains the 2010 World Junior final as the U.S. captain.
John Carlson’s 6-5 overtime goal, which dashed Canada’s hopes of earning a sixth consecutive World Junior title in Saskatoon, is what most fans remember. Yet if Stepan, then a star University of Wisconsin centre, hadn’t assisted on Jerry D’Amigo’s 4-3 goal and then made it 5-3 himself in the third period, MVP Jordan Eberle’s clutch brilliance might have given the host nation the gold again. Stepan led the World Juniors with 14 points in seven games, putting him on the tournament all-star team.
5) Ryan Ellis (Canada, 2011)
Ask Ryan Ellis how he feels about the 2011 World Juniors today, and the ailing 30-year-old Philadelphia Flyers veteran, who names Gladiator as his favourite film, might look at you like you just stabbed him with a sword. As great as his performance was in Buffalo, he’s a warrior, and blowing a three-goal lead against the Russians in the final and losing 5-3 will always hurt.
Yet apart from that shocking ending, Ellis went out on a high. It was his third straight World Junior medal, including gold in Ottawa in 2009 and silver in Saskatoon in 2010. The nifty power play quarterback led all defencemen with 10 points and was named Best Defenceman and a tournament all-star. In the World Junior career points scoring race, he also surpassed Finnish great Reijo Ruotsalainen (9+12=21) for first place overall (5+20=25).
6) Teuvo Teravainen (Finland, 2014)
It’s no wonder Teuvo Teravainen was named to IIHF.com’s World Junior All-Decade Team for the 2010’s. In 2014, the heady Finnish playmaker picked up three assists in Finland’s thrilling 3-2 overtime gold-medal win over host Sweden in Malmo. That gave him a World Junior-leading 15 points. Talk about justifying his selection as captain under head coach Karri Kivi.
Teravainen earned a Stanley Cup ring the following year with Chicago and has formed a magical partnership with fellow Finn Sebastian Aho in Carolina. Yet in IIHF circles, the Helsinki native, now 27, is best-known for ushering in the era when Finland finally became a perennial contender for gold.
7) Martin Reway (Slovakia, 2015)
2015 was the year when everything went Martin Reway’s way. Before getting named the Czech Extraliga’s rookie of the year with 37 points for Sparta Praha, the diminutive Slovakian forward led his nation’s attack at the World Juniors. Reway has sadly struggled to stay healthy since then, missing the entire 2016-17 season due to heart inflammation, but he was magical in Montreal and Toronto.
Granted, goalie Denis Godla (2.76 GAA, 92.9 save percentage) was deservedly named tournament MVP in the Cinderella run to the bronze medal. Yet if Reway hadn’t been on fire with three assists in the 4-2 bronze medal win – against a Swedish team with stars like William Nylander and Victor Olofsson – his team would likely have returned home emptyhanded.
Asked to define what distinguishes the 19-year-old HIFK Helsinki forward and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, Pennanen said, “His leadership skills. The other players respect him a lot. Of course, he is a good hockey player. That's an important thing. He’s young, but he is still a pretty mature person, humble and coachable.”
When you possess qualities like that, the sky is the limit. And Hirvonen isn’t alone. He will have plenty of competition for the title of Best Captain in Edmonton and Red Deer in 2022, from Canada’s Kaiden Guhle to Sweden’s Emil Andrae to the U.S.’s Jake Sanderson.
It’s a privilege to wear the “C” at this tournament. It’s also part of a tradition of excellence. To do justice to all the great captains that have played at this tournament since its 1977 debut in Czechoslovakia would require a book as thick as Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.
So in chronological order, we’ve spotlighted seven captains hailing from seven global hockey powers. Not all of them have come home with World Junior gold medals hanging around their necks. But win or lose, all of them have left their mark on hockey history.
1) Alexander Mogilny (Soviet Union, 1989)
If you saw Alexander Mogilny captaining the Soviets to gold in Anchorage, Alaska, you would have expected him to equal or better the 76 goals and 127 points that marked his NHL peak with the Buffalo Sabres in 1992-93 – every single year.
On a deadly line with Pavel Bure and Sergei Fyodorov, Mogilny scored a natural hat trick in the second period of a 7-2 demolition of Canada, and his speed and stickhandling generated the kind of excitement that Connor McDavid creates today. The Khabarovsk-born right wing finished the tournament with seven goals and 12 points.
2) Markus Naslund (Sweden, 1993)
Despite dominating the 1993 World Juniors alongside Peter Forsberg and Niklas Sundstrom and setting the single-tournament goals record (13), Markus Naslund didn’t come away as a champion on home ice in Gavle, Sweden.
That’s always made “Nazzy” ambivalent about his longstanding record. However, it also speaks to his commendable, outspoken honesty as a captain. The Vancouver Canucks great told IIHF.com in 2015: “I don’t know if it means a whole lot. It was a fun memory playing in the World Junior tournament. But we lost the gold medal, and that’s what I remember the most. We lost 5-4 to Canada. In my mind, we were the best team in the tournament. That’s been the story of my life, always winning the silver!”
3) Milan Kraft (Czechia, 2000)
Milan Kraft can claim multiple distinctions as a World Junior captain. First, the slick Plzen-born centre was easily the most dangerous offensive force (7+5=12) on coach Jaroslav Holik’s first of two ultra-defensive, championship-winning squads. In addition, Kraft, a tournament all-star, finished behind only Henrik Sedin (4+9=13) and right ahead of Daniel Sedin (6+4=10) in these World Juniors in the northern Swedish cities of Skelleftea and Umea.
But it wasn’t just about stealing the thunder from Sweden, which finished a disappointing fifth. Kraft’s Czechs also dethroned the Russians – who famously won gold in Winnipeg in 1999 on Artem Chubarov’s 3-2 overtime winner on Roberto Luongo – by throttling them in a 1-0 shootout final. To forever have your name inscribed next to the year 2000? That’s pretty cool.
4) Derek Stepan (U.S., 2010)
Derek Stepan has earned nearly $48 million USD in his NHL career, but the biggest thing he’s ever won remains the 2010 World Junior final as the U.S. captain.
John Carlson’s 6-5 overtime goal, which dashed Canada’s hopes of earning a sixth consecutive World Junior title in Saskatoon, is what most fans remember. Yet if Stepan, then a star University of Wisconsin centre, hadn’t assisted on Jerry D’Amigo’s 4-3 goal and then made it 5-3 himself in the third period, MVP Jordan Eberle’s clutch brilliance might have given the host nation the gold again. Stepan led the World Juniors with 14 points in seven games, putting him on the tournament all-star team.
5) Ryan Ellis (Canada, 2011)
Ask Ryan Ellis how he feels about the 2011 World Juniors today, and the ailing 30-year-old Philadelphia Flyers veteran, who names Gladiator as his favourite film, might look at you like you just stabbed him with a sword. As great as his performance was in Buffalo, he’s a warrior, and blowing a three-goal lead against the Russians in the final and losing 5-3 will always hurt.
Yet apart from that shocking ending, Ellis went out on a high. It was his third straight World Junior medal, including gold in Ottawa in 2009 and silver in Saskatoon in 2010. The nifty power play quarterback led all defencemen with 10 points and was named Best Defenceman and a tournament all-star. In the World Junior career points scoring race, he also surpassed Finnish great Reijo Ruotsalainen (9+12=21) for first place overall (5+20=25).
6) Teuvo Teravainen (Finland, 2014)
It’s no wonder Teuvo Teravainen was named to IIHF.com’s World Junior All-Decade Team for the 2010’s. In 2014, the heady Finnish playmaker picked up three assists in Finland’s thrilling 3-2 overtime gold-medal win over host Sweden in Malmo. That gave him a World Junior-leading 15 points. Talk about justifying his selection as captain under head coach Karri Kivi.
Teravainen earned a Stanley Cup ring the following year with Chicago and has formed a magical partnership with fellow Finn Sebastian Aho in Carolina. Yet in IIHF circles, the Helsinki native, now 27, is best-known for ushering in the era when Finland finally became a perennial contender for gold.
7) Martin Reway (Slovakia, 2015)
2015 was the year when everything went Martin Reway’s way. Before getting named the Czech Extraliga’s rookie of the year with 37 points for Sparta Praha, the diminutive Slovakian forward led his nation’s attack at the World Juniors. Reway has sadly struggled to stay healthy since then, missing the entire 2016-17 season due to heart inflammation, but he was magical in Montreal and Toronto.
Granted, goalie Denis Godla (2.76 GAA, 92.9 save percentage) was deservedly named tournament MVP in the Cinderella run to the bronze medal. Yet if Reway hadn’t been on fire with three assists in the 4-2 bronze medal win – against a Swedish team with stars like William Nylander and Victor Olofsson – his team would likely have returned home emptyhanded.