Vojtech Cihar Named World Juniors MVP, Wins Silver

Three LA Kings prospects exited the 2026 World Junior Championships with hardware, as the tournament came to an end yesterday evening in Minnesota.

Kings forward prospect Vojtech Cihar was the only participant in the gold-medal game, as he helped lead Czechia to the final match with a standout performance over the course of the tournament. Cihar and Czechia lost 4-2 in the gold-medal game against Sweden, but even in a losing effort, Cihar was honored individually as the tournament's Most Valuable Player, as he was also named to the All-Tournament Team. Earlier in the day, Team Canada skated to a bronze medal over Team Finland, in a game that featured three Kings prospects. Forward Liam Greentree and goaltender Carter George earned medals for the Canadians, while goaltender Petteri Rimpinen finished his tournament in fourth, despite standout showings in the knockout round.

A tournament recap of all six Kings prospects who participated in this season’s event -

Vojtech Cihar
From both an individual standpoint and a team standpoint, Cihar was the top-performing Kings prospect at the event. Individually, he was the top-performning player in the event, period. Cihar ended the group stage in the Top-5 in scoring and followed that up with multi-point games in the quarterfinals and semifinals, as he entered the medal games tied for the tournament lead in overall scoring. He added an assist in the gold-medal game and finished the tournament with 12 points (4-8-12) in seven games played.

For his efforts, Cihar was selected by the media as the tournament's MVP and was one of two Czechia players to be named to the All-Tournament team. Cihar led his team in scoring and finished fourth overall, behind three players from Team Canada who bolstered their totals in the bronze-medal game.

Cihar, a 2025 second-round selection by the Kings this past June, will head to the WHL now that his tournament has concluded. Cihar will join the Kelowna Rockets midseason after he spent the first half of the 2025-26 campaign playing professionally in Czechia with HC Energie Karlovy Vary. He is one of two participating Kings prospects who is also eligible for next season’s event, when he should once again be a key player for the Czechs.

Carter George
Playing in his final World Juniors, George made four starts throughout the tournament, including a 32-save performance in the bronze-medal game yesterday afternoon. In what was his finest showing of the tournament, George had a .914 save percentage in his team’s win over Finland, securing his first medal at the U-20 level.

George finished the tournament with a record of 4-0-0, though he was not selected to start in Canada’s games in the quarterfinals or semifinals. George had a .869 save percentage and a 3.25 goals-against average and despite winning each of his three starts in the group play, Canada made a goaltending change, winning in the quarterfinals before falling to Cihar and Czechia in the semifinals.

George will now return to the OHL with Owen Sound, as the Attack look to get back on track, after hitting a bit of a skid with George out of the lineup.

Liam Greentree
Greentree made Team Canada at the U-20 level for the first time but was not given much of an opportunity throughout the tournament, until the bronze-medal game yesterday. Greentree got a little bit closer to a regular shift in the win over Team Finland and he collected an assist in the first period to get on the scoresheet for the first time in the tournament, as he finished with one points from three games played.

Greentree played in either a fourth-line role or as an extra forward, with the IIHF allowing teams to dress more than 18 skaters in these games. Still, Greentree heads back to Windsor with a medal to his name and made the most of his only real opportunity by picking up the assist in the bronze-medal clinching game.

Petteri Rimpinen
Team Finland came up just short of repeating their silver-medal winning performance of last season and Rimpinen was a big reason as to why. In 2025, Rimpinen was selected as the tournament’s top goaltender and he nearly pulled his team past Sweden in the semifinals, only to fall in an extended shootout. Rimpinen was stellar in the game as he made 29 saves on 32 shots, including several point-blank chances in overtime, though his team couldn’t find the game-winning goal to advance to the gold-medal game.

Instead, Rimpinen and his teammates fell just short against Canada on the final day. Rimpinen finished as the tournament leader in minutes played, starting all seven games his team competed. Rimpinen finished with a record of 3-2-2 with a .871 save percentage and a 3.07 goals-against average.

He’ll now head back overseas, where his team in Liiga, Kiekko-Espoo, currently sits in a wild-card position for the postseason.

Brendan McMorrow
McMorrow and the United States bowed out earlier than expected, after falling to Rimpinen and Finland in the quarterfinals. McMorrow was a bright spot in the bottom six for Team USA, as he collected four points (1-3-4) in five games played. McMorrow was selected as his teams Best Player in their tournament opener against Germany and collected his only goal of the tournament in a win over Slovakia. He added an assist in his final game, the loss to Finland.

McMorrow now heads back to Denver University, where he and the seventh-ranked Pioneers are in search of their third consecutive trip to the Frozen Four.

Jan Chovan
Chovan and Team Slovakia also saw their tournament come to a close in the quarterfinals, as they dropped a lopsided decision against Team Canada.

Chovan scored his team’s only goal against the Canadians, a nice individual effort, as a solid consolation in a tough defeat. Chovan played in all five of his team’s games and his goal against Canada stood up as his only offensive output. Chovan, like Cihar, is also eligible to play again next season and is expected to be in a top-six role once again with a Slovakia team that should be a bit more experienced next time out.

That's a wrap for World Juniors, 2026 edition!

The Kings should be well represented again next season, with Cihar and Chovan leading the charge. Expect defenseman Henry Brzustewicz to make Team USA after he was the final defenseman cut from this season's squad. Forward Jimmy Lombardi could have an outside chance at Team Canada and the Kings should have others from their 2026 draft class in the mix as well when the time comes. Always an exciting event and nice to see Cihar, and others, perform so well.