It’s that time of year again — no, not the holidays — when countries and NHL prospects gather for the IIHF World Junior Championship.
The Rangers will have three draft picks participating in the 2024 international tournament, taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden — the host country for the seventh time — and beginning Tuesday before concluding with the gold medal game on Jan. 5.
Team USA will feature two of the Blueshirts’ most recent draft picks in forward Gabe Perreault (first round, 23rd overall in 2023) and defenseman Drew Fortescue (third round, 90th overall in 2023).
Coming off a bronze medal finish last year, the United States will look to secure gold for the first time since 2021.
Team USA has medaled in six of the past eight World Junior Championships.
In two of the previous four tournaments, however, the country hasn’t medaled.
It’s been a successful start to the tournament for the Americans, who beat Sweden, 5-3, on Thursday and Canada, 6-5 in overtime, on Saturday in the exhibition round.
Their first official opponent will be Norway on Tuesday.
After taking on Switzerland Thursday, Team USA will face Czechia the next day and Slovakia the day after that.
In the last exhibition matchup, Perreault skated on the left wing of the third line with Will Smith (Boston College, Sharks’ fourth-overall pick in 2023) and Ryan Leonard (Boston College, Capitals’ eighth-overall pick in 2023).
Fortescue, a native of Pearl River, N.Y., was on a defensive pair alongside Ryan Chesley (University of Minnesota, Capitals’ 37th-overall pick in 2022).
“It was an entertaining game and a good one for us to have before we start play in the tournament,” U.S. head coach David Carle said. “We’ll use what we learned in the two exhibition games to continue to build, and look forward to our first game against Norway on Tuesday.”
Both players have played a role in getting Boston College into the No. 2 spot in the Hockey East standings with a 13-3-1 overall record as of Sunday.
The two are part of 44 current and committed NCAA Division I men’s hockey players competing in Sweden.
Perreault has five goals and 20 assists in 17 games, while Fortescue has three goals and an assist.
Adam Sykora, the Rangers’ energetic 63rd-overall pick in 2022, will serve as captain for Slovakia in the tournament.
The Hartford Wolf Pack loaned the 19-year-old left wing to Slovakia on Dec. 18 for the tournament, which hasn’t seen his country medal since they took bronze in 2015.
Sykora is the only Wolf Pack player being loaned to play in the WJC.
Coming off a sixth-place finish last year, Slovakia opens the preliminary round against Czechia on Tuesday.
They will then play Switzerland on Wednesday, Norway on Friday and the United States on Sunday.
Twenty-five games into his first full season in the American Hockey League with Hartford, Sykora has posted three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 25 games.
He also owns a plus-six rating.
