Behrens and Olausson to Compete at 2022 WJC Championship

The Colorado Avalanche are slated to have two prospects represent the organization as they compete for their respective countries in this year's
2022 IIHF World Junior Championship
tournament beginning on Tuesday, Aug. 9 in Edmonton Alberta at Rogers Place.

Defenseman Sean Behrens, who the Avalanche selected 61st overall in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, will compete for
Team USA
, while winger Oskar Olausson, who Colorado drafted 28th overall in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft, will play for his home country of
Sweden
.
The tournament originally was scheduled for Dec. 26-Jan. 5 of 2021, but was postponed due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 virus. The tournament will span from Aug. 9-20, where the top four teams in each group will play the quarterfinals Aug. 17. The semifinals will begin on Aug. 19, and the championship and third-place games will take place on Aug. 20.
Team USA will look to win back-to-back titles for the first time after defeating Team Canada 2-0 in the 2021 WJC championship game. The last team to win consecutively was Team Canada, which went on to win five-straight championships from 2005-09.
Team USA will compete in Group B and is scheduled to play preliminary-round games with Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Group A consists of Canada, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia and Latvia.
Here is the NHL Network broadcast schedule for Team USA and Team Sweden's preliminary-round games:
To view the full schedule for all teams, please click
here
.
Tuesday, August 9
Germany vs. USA, 8 p.m. MT
Wednesday, August 10
Switzerland vs. Sweden, 12 p.m. MT
Thursday, August 11
USA vs. Switzerland, 8 p.m. MT
Friday, August 12
Sweden vs. Austria, 12 p.m. MT
Saturday, August 13
USA vs. Austria, 12 p.m. MT
Sunday. August 14
Sweden vs. USA, 8 p.m. MT
Monday, August 15
Germany vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. MT
Wednesday, August 17
Quarterfinal, 12 p.m. ET
Quarterfinal, 3:30 p.m. ET
Quarterfinal, 7 p.m. ET
Quarterfinal, 10:30 p.m. ET
Friday, August 19
Semifinal, 4 p.m. ET
Semifinal, 8 p.m. ET
Saturday, August 20
Bronze Medal Game, 4 p.m. ET
Gold Medal Game, 8 p.m. ET
\* All times are subject to change*

MORE ON BEHRENS AND OLAUSSON

Behrens, who is a 19-year-old left-shot blueliner, spent his freshman season of Division l hockey with the University of Denver Pioneers, where he helped DU to its ninth national championship in program history this past spring. Through 37 games, the Barrington, Illinois native totaled 29 points (3G, 26A) in 37 games.
Olausson, who is a 19-year-old winger and Stockholm native like Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, made the jump to North American hockey last year as he played in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) between the Barrie Colts, where he compiled 25 points (12G, 13A) in 22 games, and the Oshawa Generals where he totaled 24 points (14G, 10A) in 33 games.