World Junior Championships

Puck Junk Podcast: The Bogus Bedard Bounty

Plus: World Juniors & Winter Classic
Episode #208: January 11, 2025

In the first Puck Junk Podcast for 2025, the guys talk about the $1 million dollar bounty that was offered for the Connor Bedard Young Guns Gold Outburst parallel – and then quietly revoked when no one was looking. Plus, the Winter Classic, World Junior Championships, Shoresy Season 4, the upcoming PWHL cards, and more. It’s 99 minutes of hockey goodness – now with chapters, too! 

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Podcast music by Retro Game Remix – follow them on YouTube. 

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Box Break: 2023 Team Canada Juniors Hockey Cards

The 2023 Team Canada Juniors set was released in November of 2023. The set features Canadian players who played in the 2023 Under-20 World Junior Championship and the 2023 Under-18 World Junior Championship, as well as women who play on the Canadian Women’s National Team. 

2023 Team Canada Juniors hockey cards cost around $230 for a 15-pack hobby box. Each pack has six cards. The box – which pictures Connor Bedard on it – claims that you can get “at least 4 hits per box!” Bedard also happens to be the main reason why a box of 2023 Team Canada Juniors is rather pricey; it is possible to get an autographed card of Bedard, who was drafted first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2023. Bedard also has two cards in the base set, one card in the  short-printed “Program of Excellence” subset, several insert cards – plus the plethora of parallels those cards have. 

In other words, if you are looking for cards of Connor Bedard, this is a good box to break. 

Besides autographed cards, other hits you can get in a box of these cards includes a jersey card or a high-end insert card printed on plexiglass. 

I recently opened a hobby box of 2023 Team Canada Juniors. Here is what was inside. 

Continue reading “Box Break: 2023 Team Canada Juniors Hockey Cards”

Clemente’s Corner: Top 5 Connor Bedard Cards to Collect Before He’s Drafted

Hockey fans are already looking forward to the start of next season with the 2023 NHL Draft that’s slated to take place on June 28 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

For only the second time in team history, the Chicago Blackhawks will select the No. 1 overall pick after winning the top spot in last month’s NHL Draft Lottery. The Blackhawks have only had the first pick once and that was in 2007 when the team selected Patrick Kane, who helped Chicago win three Stanley Cups. Sixteen years later, the Blackhawks will most likely add highly-touted prospect Connor Bedard to their 2023-24 roster.  

Bedard has had a busy few weeks. Earlier this month, he was one of 106 prospects invited to take part in this year’s NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. He was also recognized as the most outstanding player in Canadian Major Junior Hockey and given the CHL David Branch Player of the Year Award. This past season, Bedard was ranked the No. 1 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting ahead of draft after finishing first in points in the WHL this season with 143 points (71 goals and 72 assists) in 57 games.

Bedard, who turns 18 on July 17, has been called a generational talent who many have already compared to Connor McDavid. Collectors will have plenty Bedard cards to chase later this year. His Young Guns card and other Upper Deck rookies are likely to turn next season’s releases into some of the most-sought after products in the entire hobby.

For now, there are several options out there for those looking to collect cards of the budding center, especially for those who like junior league and national team cards. These cards don’t generally get hobby love, but they are fun to collect and do give people a chance to get their hands on cards of Bedard before he makes his professional debut. 

Here are five Connor Bedard cards to collect ahead of this year’s draft:

Continue reading “Clemente’s Corner: Top 5 Connor Bedard Cards to Collect Before He’s Drafted”

Snap Shots: Hockey World Reacts to Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was on all our minds last week. Naturally, talk about the war found its way into hockey circles. Hockey is a global sport. Many of the game’s best players are from Russia, and there are numerous international hockey tournaments, from the annual World Junior Championships and World Championships, to the quadrennial Winter Olympics which just recently took place. 

In a life-and-death situation like this, that can impact hundreds of thousands of lives, athletes and sportswriters cannot just “stick to sports.” That said, several prominent current and former NHL players spoke out about the war in Ukraine and what it could potentially mean for Russian hockey players. 

Other hockey news this week includes two players reaching career milestones, another player having his jersey number retired, and the passing of one of hockey’s all-time great builders. 

Continue reading “Snap Shots: Hockey World Reacts to Russian Invasion of Ukraine”

Blake’s Takes: Team USA Wins the World Junior Championships

NHL games start in a few days. That’s the most important thing about this week. However, last week still provided a ton of news from around the league. We saw another captain named, one of the game’s greats retire, and the end of the World Junior Championships in Edmonton. The NHL also announced a few of their unconventional business plans. I’ll speak to it all in this week’s column. Happy Monday!

Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: Team USA Wins the World Junior Championships”