Team Canada to use Blue Jays’ home run horn at 2026 World Junior Championship

With the holidays comes the under-20 World Junior Championship, an annual hockey tournament that runs from Dec. 26 until Jan. 5. Team Canada’s journey begins on Friday evening, and on Friday afternoon, they announced that their goal horn will be the Blue Jays’ home run/victory horn.

From Canada’s Team to Team Canada… Our friends at the @BlueJays have loaned us their home run horn for the #WorldJuniors! 🇨🇦

De l’équipe du Canada à Équipe Canada… Nos amis les Blue Jays nous ont prêté leur sirène à coups de circuit pour le #MondialJunior! 🇨🇦

It was a horn that was heard quite often in October in some key moments. Take George Springer’s three-run home run in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series as an example. It only added to the atmosphere, and it was the same case when Jeff Hoffman closed it out.

There have been plenty of other great memories with the horn as well. Late in the 2015 season, Russell Martin hit a three-run home run against the New York Yankees with the horn drowning out Buck Martinez’s call. Later that season, the home run horn helped elevate José Bautista’s bat flip home run in the American League Divisional Series against the Texas Rangers.

I’ve routinely noted that the Martin home run is one of my favourite sporting moments in history. You can also add a few of the home runs during the 2025 postseason, namely Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s grand slam in Game 2 of the ALDS and the aforementioned Springer home run. However, another one of my favourite sporting memories was thanks to a Team Canada goal in the World Juniors.

Unfortunately, Team Canada has been gold-less for a couple of tournaments, as Team USA has taken home the gold medal in both the 2024 and 2025 tournaments. Team Canada’s 20 gold medals in tournament history ranks as the most, 13 more than the next-best team in Team USA (Team Russia hasn’t participated since the 2021 tournament, they have 13).

After losing in the quarterfinals last year in Ottawa, the tournament shifts to Minneapolis/Saint Paul in 2026. Team Canada is in a group with Team Finland, Team Latvia, Team Denmark, and Team Czechia, the latter is who they play on Friday evening.

The round robin portion of the tournament runs from Boxing Day to New Year’s eve, before moving to the playoff phase. There are three rounds, the quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal games, with the tournament finishing on Jan. 5.

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