What to know for the world juniors

This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.

Last year's world junior hockey championship had a tough act to follow. The previous one was among the best ever, with Canadian phenom Connor Bedard breaking records and scoring highlight-reel goals in front of raucous crowds in Halifax and the gold-medal game ending with a thrilling overtime victory for the home team.

Predictably, the 2023-24 tournament couldn't keep up. With Bedard up in the NHL and the games taking place in the less-festive town of Gothenburg, Sweden, Canada was eliminated in the quarterfinals by the Czech Republic before the U.S. beat the host country 6-2 in a forgettable gold-medal game.

But now the world juniors return to their spiritual home country as Ottawa gets set to host starting on Boxing Day. The last time the tournament took place in the nation's capital, in 2009, Canada won its record-tying fifth consecutive gold, thanks to Jordan Eberle's late-game heroics in the semifinals against Russia.

Here are a few things to know for this year's world juniors:

Canada is (sort of) favoured to reclaim the title.

Last year's early exit halted a run of two consecutive gold medals and four straight trips to the final for hockey's No. 1 country. But oddsmakers like the Canadians' chances of getting back on top: they're essentially co-favourites to win the tournament along with the defending-champion United States.

The current betting odds imply Canada and the U.S. each have in the neighbourhood of a 40 per cent chance to take gold. Sweden is next at around 15 per cent, followed by Finland. Russia remains banned from this tournament (and all international