New No. 1’s among ‘06, ‘07, ‘09, ’11 birth years
Propelled by key victories at 16U USA Hockey Nationals, the Long Island Gulls found a new home in the No. 1 spot among 2006-born clubs. They defeated No. 3 New Jersey Rockets, No. 4 Compuware, No. 6 Little Caesars and No. 9 Mount St. Charles, all Top-10 U.S. teams. The Gulls also managed to pull out a strong victory over previous top spot holder Shattuck-St. Mary’s, who slid down to No. 2.
In Sweden, Täby HC maneuvered its way to the top, thanks to a deep run to the championship game versus Brynäs IF for 2007-born teams. Even more impressive was the final result of the matchup, with Brynäs managing to put up seven goals en route to winning the club’s first-ever Sweden National Championship. A win that helped boost Brynäs, who was previously unranked, into the Top 10.
Sticking with the ‘07s, Tappara went 6-1-0 in the Finnish SM-Series playoffs to secure the top spot from Kiekko-Espoo. TPS and KalPa also experienced jumps to No. 3 and No. 4 in the Top 10, respectively, resulting from key victories during their playoff runs as well. In the ‘08s, Jokerit’s 3-0-0 stretch allowed them to take the No. 1 spot, with second-place Kärpät Musta in the No. 2 spot and third-place Kärpät Valkoinen settling in to No. 3.
Fresh off winning gold at the 2023 U14 Uplandia Trophy with an undefeated run, Brinkens IF is enjoying a new view from the No. 1 spot.
The 2011-born Vaughan Kings put up a stellar showing against the No. 2 Toronto Jr. Canadiens, defeating them 8-1 to leapfrog them to the No. 1 spot. Vaughan also managed to split two games against No. 10 Toronto Nationals. In Russia, the ‘11s saw a new club take the No. 1 spot as well with CSKA Moscow taking over for No. 2 Dynamo St. Petersburg. CSKA put three crucial victories against Top-10 teams under its belt to slip past Dynamo.
Head-to-head matchups solidify final rankings positions
No. 5 ‘06 SKA Strelna suited up for two games against No. 6 SKA Silver Lions, resulting in two wins for Strelna to move them up a spot. Traktor Chelyabinsk put together a decent string of wins to slide into the No. 10 spot for the first time this season. 2009-born Dynamo St. Petersburg took two out of three games against No. 9 SKA Strelna to push them out of the No. 8 spot.
There were some big showdowns at the ‘07 USA Hockey Nationals tournament, and the Los Angeles Jr. Kings’ championship run vaulted them from No. 7 to No. 3. It started with wins against teams like No. 4 Mount St. Charles and No. 8 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite. Then, it culminated with a championship win in overtime against No. 5 Shattuck-St. Mary’s. In Canada, the Halton Hurricanes took advantage of two games with No. 5 York Simcoe Express, taking the No. 4 spot among other ‘07 teams with two wins.
Continuing to impress with the 2008-born clubs was No. 2 Linköpings HC, who bested No. 3 Djurgårdens IF twice at the 2023 Swedbank Trophy. Linköpings went on to win the gold medal, which ended a perfect 5-0-0 run.
Be sure to check out the complete world rankings, including Top 10s by country and World Top 25s for each of the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 birth years.
