If you haven't already read our tournament introduction post, you should probably do that first. You'll find format and group information, plus how to watch.
Canada
There was a lot of turnover for Team Canada between their gold medal in Vantaa, Finland last January and now. Just nine players on this roster were a part of that squad and some very big names, like Chloe Primerano, Stryker Zablocki, Sara Manness and Riley Sorokan have since aged out. This is a team that needs to find its identity. Twenty-one of the 25 players on this roster took part in a three-game series with USA in August where the Americans took two of the three wins. Canada had a strong third period in the first of those games, but one of the notable things for me was how front-loaded those games felt for Canada. They came out strong, but didn't carry that through 60 minutes. Calleigh Tiller was outstanding in Vantaa and was third in the tournament with 10 points. Players like Anaïs Lephron and Sofia Ismael showed moments of greatness at the last tournament, but also showed their youth and inexperience at times. I expect them to be impact players this time around. The likely breakout star is Adrianna Milani, who is fast tracking her matriculation to be able to head to Minnesota early. She's quick and deceptive, with stellar puck-handling skills. One of the question marks is in net, with three goalies who are making their U18 World Championships debuts. Léa-Rose Charrois won the Canadian national U18 championship with Québec and got the start for Canada in their pre-tournament game against Finland.
Sweden
Ultimately Sweden finished fourth, which they weren't happy with, but it was a really good bounce-back tournament for them in 2025 after crashing out of the quarterfinals in 2024. They were in both the semfinal and bronze medal games against the US and Czechia respectively, losing by a single goal in each game. They forced the US to fully adapt their game in the semifinal and ultimately hit a bit of a wall as the tournament wound down. I imagine both mental and physical fitness were a focus over the past year. When Sweden hosted the 2023 tournament the federation said they were putting a focus on growing the women's game and I think we're seeing some of that start to come through at the U18 level. This year's tournament will be a good barometer as several of their best players aged out. This team has never been without some absolutely stand out players, but hasn't really been able to be at that high level across the board and for a full tournament. In net, Maja Engelin was on the roster last tournament, but did not see playing time but she's the only one of the netminder trio that has been to U18s before. I thought Tilde Grillfors was outstanding in last year's tournament and she's continued to show improvement through the SDHL season. The Ohio State commit was particularly good in Sweden's final two games, getting very involved on offense when it was needed most.
Switzerland
On the one hand, it was the second straight year that Switzerland only won a single game at the tournament. On the other, they weren't up for relegation and took Czechia to overtime in round robin. It's a small win, but one Switzerland needs. Things have been a little bleak across the board on the women's side and there just hasn't been much to hope things will improve. Senior national team coach Colin Muller hasn't been able to hide his frustration with the state of things over the past few years. There simply is not enough depth to field competitive teams. We've already seen Alina Müller play in the 2014 Olympics as a 15 year old and now Laure Mériguet will go from this U18 tournament to pre-Olympic prep with the senior national team. The other player that's expected to lead this roster is Norina Müller, who has done well in the Swiss women's league. Scoring is one of the things that has been a struggle, though they did double their output in 2025 and Norina has shown to be really smart and smooth with the puck. This is another team with a new crop of goaltenders, but there's a strong Swiss tradition of strong netminders.
Hungary
Hungary was promoted after finishing first in the D1A tournament they hosted in 2025. They had three shutouts and allowed just two goals. They split time between two goaltenders last year, but Noémi Zoé Takács was named Top Goaltender of hte tournament and she returns to the squad this year. As with Switzerland, this is a group and federation that are still working on growing their women's program. This tournament should give us a good idea where things stand for the program, but it doesn't bode well that there are four senior national team players on this U18 team (Lili Hadju, Réka Hiezl, Petra Polónyi and Takács). Hiezl is committed to Quinnipiac and plays at Shattuck St. Mary's where she's thriving. She'll be the main focus of the offense and as we've seen with Nela Lopušanová and Slovakia, that's not nothing. It's been a pretty regular rotation of the team that gets promoted from D1A heading back down after one year at the top tier, but it certainly feels like Hungary has the pieces to push for that last safe spot. That being said, this is only their third time in the main event and the first two were in 2013 and 2014.
