Weekend TV: Canada’s hockey juniors hit pre-competition ice

The young Canadians part of a holiday hockey tradition get going with pre-competition at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championships from Malmö, Sweden.

Newly named captain Scott Laughton leads the way, along with Jonathan Drouin and Mathew Dumba.

The boys get going against Finland on Friday, (10 am ET, TSN), and also play Sweden on Sunday, (11 am ET, TSN).

The Saslong course in Val Gardena is one of alpine skiing’s classics. And Jan Hudec is a Canadian classic. So it makes sense that Hudec managed a second place in Friday’s super-G. The 32-year-old was 0.58 seconds behind Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal.

Erik Guay is fast right now. He was sixth in the same super-G and crushed Thursday’s downhill training run finishing first, 0.22 seconds ahead of overall World Cup leader Svindal.

SEE ALSO: Is this the year for Canada’s ski outlaws?

Svindal was sandwiched by another Canadian Cowboy, Manuel Osborne-Paradis who finished the Saslong slope 0.72 seconds off Guay’s pace.

The downhill race is Saturday and you can watch coverage on Saturday, 6:15 am ET at cbcsports.ca or 3 pm ET CBC/cbcsports.ca.

The FIS Snowboard World Cup checks into Lake Louise, with the Sport Chek SBX, (snowboardcross) event this weekend.

The Canadian team includes Olympic champion Maëlle Ricker, Turin 2006 bronze medallist Dominique Maltais, as well as Rob FaganChris Robanske and others.

A recent powder dump in the Rocky Mountains means the race course is primed:

The finals are Saturday and you can watch at 4:30 pm ET CBC/cbcsports.ca