I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.
Like so many things, it seems to be building up for weeks and then it’s over in an instant. At least many of us get to have some much-needed time off work during this part of the year and I was hoping to spend most of it watching plenty of hockey games.
And I will.
The NHL starts up again on Wednesday night and there will be Swedish and Finnish league games to enjoy via Home of Hockey.
However, the big excitement at this time of year is the World Juniors and, with this year’s edition being held in Gothenburg, Sweden, the games are being played at a perfect time to watch here in the UK.
The problem is, there is no coverage to watch.
Today’s latest hopeful visit to the “TV & Streams” page on the tournament website still only lists 10 countries and the UK is not among them. Often sports events will stream coverage to their YouTube channel, geo-blocking out visitors from countries that have rights deals in place, yet there’s no sign of that so for on the IIHF YouTube channel.
I still live in hope, but it looks like today’s potential four-game binge of World Juniors action is going to be a pipedream.
Maybe we’ll get some extra hockey in the form of the Spengler Cup that gets underway in Davos, Switzerland. It’s always a fun tournament, albeit the timing means it tends to get lost in the shuffle with the World Juniors.
Their Broadcaster List states that the games will be available on Viaplay UK in the UK and Ireland, although I can’t see anything on their site as yet.

We need a Christmas miracle!