Team-By-Team Preview: U-18 Women's World Championships

The world is set to get another first look at the next wave of young stars at the U-18 World Championship in Finland. This year the tournament will feature some of women's hockey's top young players including Chloe Primerano with Canada and Slovakia's Nela Lopusanova.

USA enters as the reigning gold medalists, while Canada enters as the favorite. Japan will play in the top division this year as well after earning promotion from the Division 1A tournament, while Germany was relegated. The tournament gets underway January 4, 2025 in Vantaa, Finland.

Here's a look at each World Championship roster, and players to watch from each team.

Canada

Canada is undoubtedly the team to beat. After an incredible upset as last year's favorites that resulted in a bronze for Canada, they'll look for redemption, and no team enters with a more dominant lineup. Chloe Primerano made her senior national debut at the Rivalry Series this year, and she's the reigning tournament MVP. She'll be joined by returnees Sara Manness, Stryker Zablocki, Marilou Grenier, and Maxine Cimeroni. Canada will roll out four deep lines, but it's the top end players like Zablocki, Manness, and Primerano, as well as younger stars like Rosalie Tremblay, Maddie McCullough and the rest of Canada's up and coming roster. They are the team to beat, and it would take a miracle, like last year, to see Canada fall.

USA

This is a young team with 15 players eligible to return again in 2026. There are, however, eight players - Caroline Averill, Averill, Haley Box, Mary Derrenbacher, Natalia Dilbone, Bella Fanale, Megan Healy, and Macy Rassmussen - back from last year's gold medal winning team. Some of the new names to watch include Sloane Hartmetz, the younger sister of Boston Fleet defender Hadley Hartmetz, forward Kylie Amelkovich, and goalie Morgan Stickney who all play for Shattuck. This is a team that looked significantly weaker than last year, but nonetheless, they'll be in the medal round.

Sweden

Sweden is a nation on the rise in women's hockey at all levels. Their senior national team looks primed to begin challenging for medals, while their U-18 team has been consistently feeding that machine. The biggest advantage for Sweden is that the bulk of their roster is already playing in the SDHL among pros and NCAA bound stars. Maja Helge will be counted upon heavily in net, while Edit Danielsson, Tilde Grillfors, Nellie Svensson, and Ebba Westerlind will be a few of the names to watch. Danielsson is close to cracking Sweden's senior national team, and Svensson will be one of this team's off- and on-ice leaders.

Finland

Goaltending strength has always been a feature of Finnish national teams, and Kerttu Kuja-Halkola and Emilia Piekkari will provide that in net for Finland's U-18 team heading to Worlds. Abigail Byskata was one of Finland's top players at last year's U-18 World Championships, and she's the likely offensive leader again this year. She'll look for support from Eva Lamberg and Julia Kuhta. While Finland's senior national team continues to load up with stars, their U-18 team is in a phase of transition where they could challenge for a medal, or find themselves far out of contention.

Czechia

Czechia will look to avoid a massive let down this season but the group of aged out players like Adela Sapovalivova and Tereza Plosova leave a gaping hole in their program. In net there is no clear starter, but the biggest question is who will step up and keep this program moving forward. The most obvious answer is the group of Czech players who have jumped to North America and elsewhere in Europe to play this season. Julie Jebousková, Magdaléna Felcmanová, and Linda Vocetková will be three of those players up front. On the blueline, Barbora Prošková and Johanna Tischler should be steady contributors. Unlike past years, this team will need to score by committee instead of relying upon a specific player.

Switzerland

No Ivana Wey this season means other players will need to step up offensively. Naemi Herzig is one of the best young players in Switzerland and this tournament will be a good chance for a confidence boost for the forward who has seen time with Switzerland's senior national team as well. One name to watch is Norina Muller who could play a much larger role for the Swiss at this tournament

Japan

The graduation of Kohane Sato out of the U-18 age group is a massive loss for Japan, a nation fighting to stay among the world's top teams on the women's side, but continuing to slide. The good news for Japan is that their top two scorers from last year's Division 1A tournament which they won for promotion, Umeka Odaira and Azumi Numabe are both eligible to return.

Slovakia

Watch out world. This team and nation might not have the depth of other teams, but they certainly have the star power. Nela Lopusanova will be back in action flanked by Em Tothova. The duo are headed to the top NCAA programs in the nation, Wisconsin and Ohio State respectively, and they are two of the top U-18 players in the world. The problem is that the depth of the system is lacking. U-18 players are either trying to find competition against boys in Slovakia, or like Lenka Karkoskova, they're lighting it up in the extremely weak domestic women's league. Youngster Natalia Gero is a name to watch for Slovakia. The 2009 born forward has put up good numbers everywhere she's gone recently, including registering more than a point per game against boys teams in Slovakia.