So I've been previewing each club in the lead up to today's action as the IIHF U20 World Junior Championship begins in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I haven't put Russia's preview, the defending gold medallists, up quite yet but that will be coming before their game starts tonight at 8 PM MST. But since everyone else is out there, you know what my preliminary round predictions are. Here's a review:

Preliminary Round Predictions

Place	Group A	Group B
1
2
3
4
5

That would mean the following matchups for the quarterfinals: Russia vs. Finland and Canada vs. Switzerland, the same as last year. I'm picking Canada and Finland to win those games, setting up a semifinal of Sweden vs. Canada and the USA vs. Finland. From there, a Canada vs. USA gold medal game is my call, and here's how the final standings breakdown:

1. United States of America (GOLD) - Best all-around roster at this tournament, and a feather in the cap to an excellent run in recent years.
2. Canada (SILVER) - A great run that comes up just short again.
3. Finland (BRONZE) - First medal since 2006. This is their best team in years. Mikael Granlund for MVP.
4. Sweden - A tough result for what is a great team.
5. Russia - This team is not quite experienced enough compared to the four nations I have ahead of them.
6. Switzerland - They'll be in tough come the medal round, but reaching the quarterfinals is really their goal.
7. Czech Republic - A tough schedule works against their best roster of the past few years. Luckily, they should have a similarly strong team next year with a better chance to qualify for a medal.
8. Slovakia - Not a lot to say here, it's a team that should beat Latvia and Denmark but is in real tough with the other 7 teams.
9. Latvia - I'm expecting them to qualify for Russia in 2013, which is really the goal.
10. Denmark - It's a tough year for the Danes to be with the elite group. Back to Division 1, where they can contend again.