Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Harrison Brunicke will represent Team Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship held Dec. 26-Jan. 5 at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis and Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Brunicke, 19, has appeared in nine games for Pittsburgh in 2025-26, recording one goal and averaging 15:43 minutes of time-on-ice per game. He’s also suited up for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, where he notched four assists and was plus-2 in five games.
The native of Johannesburg, South Africa was selected by the Penguins in the second round (44th overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft and became just the second South Africa native to appear in an NHL game, along with goaltender Olie Kolzig, when he made his NHL debut on Oct. 7.
Prior to turning pro, the 6-foot-3, 201-pound blueliner enjoyed parts of four seasons in the WHL with the Kamloops Blazers. In 151 career regular-season games, Brunicke recorded 19 goals, 40 assists and 59 points.
Brunicke previously represented Team Canada at the 2024 World Under-18 Championship and tallied one goal, three assists and four points en route to a gold medal.
Brunicke and Team Canada open up the tournament on Dec. 26 with a matchup against Team Czechia at 8:30 PM ET. Team Canada's preliminary play also features games on Dec. 27 (4:30 PM ET vs. Latvia), Dec. 29 (8:30 PM ET vs. Denmark) and Dec. 31 (8:30 PM ET vs. Finland).
