Former Boston University star Macklin Celebrini was named captain and Sidney Crosby will join him on the Canada roster at the IIHF World Championship in Switzerland, where the United States will set out to retain the trophy it won in 2025 for the first time in 92 years.
Celebrini, the 19-year-old star of the San Jose Sharks, is the youngest player to serve as captain for Canada and the youngest on the team’s roster at Worlds, which open Friday in the cities of Zurich and Fribourg.
He has had a year to remember. In only his second NHL season, the center recorded staggering numbers, setting a record for the Sharks with 115 points on 45 goals and 70 assists in 82 games.
Celebrini, who played the 2023-24 season at BU and won the Hobey Baker Award with the Terriers, finished fourth in the league in points and was a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award along with established stars Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Only two teenagers have reached the 50-point mark faster in a season than Celebrini, two of the greatest players in NHL history: Crosby and Wayne Gretzky.
Celebrini’s performance earned him a place on a Canada team that had to settle for silver at this year’s Milan Cortina Olympics.
Canada is the most successful nation at the worlds, with 28 titles, and is one of the favorites every year no matter who is available at the time of the NHL playoffs.
Celebrini joins forces with two 35-year-old alternate captains, John Tavares of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators. Bruins center Fraser Minten is also on the squad.
The last-minute addition of Crosby for his fourth appearance at the tournament is a boost for Canada, which is hoping to rebound from a disappointing fifth-place finish last year.
Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, was at the 2025 tournament on a team that included Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon, but the Canadians were stunned 2-1 by Denmark in the quarterfinals.
Canada last won the trophy in 2023.
Defending champion
Last year, Tage Thompson scored at 2:02 of overtime in the final to give Team USA a 1-0 victory over Switzerland for its second world championship and first since 1933.
Thompson is not on the team this time round because his Buffalo Sabres face Montreal Canadians in the NHL playoffs. Only two men remain on the roster from last year, Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei and Isaac Howard of the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL.
Forward Matthew Tkachuk can become the first American in hockey’s Triple Gold Club. He won the Stanley Cup back-to-back with the Florida Panthers and claimed a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games as part of the US team.
There are 30 players who have been Stanley Cup, Olympic and world championship winners, led by 11 Canadians.
Tkachuk is the only Olympian from the Milan Games named to the US team. Justin Faulk of the Detroit Red Wings will captain the Americans in his fourth worlds.
Lohrei will be joined by Bruins teammates James Hagens and Alex Steeves on Team USA. Other players with New England ties on the roster include Capitals forward Ryan Leonard (Amherst, and Hagens’s former linemate at Boston College), Lightning defenseman Declan Carlile (Merrimack), Blackhawks forward Sam Lafferty (Brown), Blackhawks/IceHogs goalie Drew Commesso (Norwell, Boston University), Flames forward Matt Coronato (Harvard), Predators defenseman Ryan Ufko (UMass), and Maple Leafs goalie Joe Woll (BC).
Other contenders
After finishing runner-up the previous two years, host Switzerland hopes for more. The team includes forwards Nico Hirschier and Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils, Nino Niederreiter of the Winnipeg Jets, Pius Sutter of the St. Louis Blues and Nashville star defenseman Roman Josi.
Sweden, with Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond, and Finland, with Florida center Aleksandar Barkov on board, are both traditional medal contenders.
Format
The 16 teams are divided into two groups for the preliminary round.
The United States is in Group A in Zurich with Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Austria, Hungary and newcomer Britain. Group B in Fribourg includes Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Denmark, Slovakia, Norway, Slovenia and another newcomer, Italy.
The top four in each group make the quarterfinals. The final and bronze-medal games are scheduled for May 31.
Here is Team USA’s full schedule. NHL Network will air all of Team USA’s games live.
Preliminary round
Friday, May 15: Switzerland, 2:20 p.m.
Sunday, May 17: Great Britain, 6:20 a.m.
Monday, May 18: Finland, 10:20 a.m.
Wednesday, May 20: Germany 2:20 p.m.
Saturday, May 23: Latvia, 6:20 a.m.
Monday, May 25: Hungary, 10:20 a.m.
Tuesday, May 26: Austria, 10:20 a.m.
Quarterfinals
Thursday, May 28: TBA
Semifinals
Saturday, May 30: TBA
Championship
Sunday, May 31: Bronze medal game, 9:20 a.m.
Sunday, May 31: Gold medal game, 2:20 p.m.