Throughout the World Juniors tournament, we’ll be keeping track of all the action and bringing you all of the results in one place.
Switzerland vs. Germany
After two close losses against top teams in Sweden and team USA, Switzerland found themselves in a much more favorable match against Germany, who was playing their fourth game in five days. Taking full advantage of the opportunity, the Swiss dominated the opening frame, scoring twice and out-shooting the Germans 19-7.
Kimi Koerbler opened the scoring off of a rebound in the crease, when a knuckler from the point hit off his skate. Koerbler quickly went skate to stick, and with goaltender Lennart Neisse still set for the original shot, found a lot of open net to give Switzerland the 1-0 lead. Switzerland continued to push the pace, and only a little over a minute later, doubled their lead on the power play. After receiving a pass up by the blue line, Leon Muggli found a lane through the left faceoff circle and with team Germany’s penalty killers focused on the forward crashing the crease, Muggli found Jamiro Reber with a cross ice pass that he was able to one-time past Neisse.
The second period was more of a continuation than anything else, with Koerbler quickly getting his second of the game off of a great individual effort. Koerbler stripped the puck from a retreating forward in the neutral zone and went one-on-one against Neisse. While he was stopped on his original shot, he found his own rebound and chipped it up over the goaltender’s pad to extend Switzerland’s lead to three. Ludvig Johnson made it 4-0 with a heavy wrister, shooting far side and hitting right under the cross bar.
Team Germany’s power play was a huge letdown for them in this game, generating little offense and really, little offensive zone time. Their first power play opportunity saw the Swiss generate the best scoring chance, while their second power play ended early due to a penalty of their own. Germany has struggled on the man advantage throughout the tournament so far, and if they’re going to avoid relegation, they’re going to have to find a special teams solution ahead of their finale.
While Koerbler was the clear standout in this game with two goals, despite not registering a point, another standout for the Swiss was Beni Waidacher. Waidacher had a really strong game, generating a handful of chances, and was especially noticeable in the second period where he was robbed by Neisse of a sure goal. Neisse was the player of the game for Germany, with 43 saves. The score could’ve been, and maybe should’ve been, even more lopsided in favor of team Switzerland, but Neisse held them to four goals.
Final: Switzerland 4 – Germany 0
Next game up (SUI): Dec 31, 1:00 ET vs. Slovakia
Next game up (GER): Jan 2, 12:30 ET vs. Denmark (Relegation)
Latvia vs. Denmark
For Latvia, a win meant avoiding the regelation game against Germany. A loss, and they would have to defeat Czechia in order to finish ahead of Denmark in the Group B standings. What had been a pretty even period opened up late, with Latvia taking the lead and taking full control over the final five minutes. After a somewhat lengthy board battle, the puck wound up on the stick of Bruno Osmanis, who walked the Denmark defender with a sweet toe-drag. Denmark’s netminder Anton Wilde made the stop on the initial shot, but Krisjanis Sarts found the puck in close and beat Wilde through the five hole.
Krisjanis Sarts cleans up the loose puck in front to give Latvia a 1-0 lead late in the 1st period.#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/8yeoCfx4hF
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 30, 2025
Team Latvia continued to control play through the middle frame, with 2026 Draft-eligible defenseman Alberts Smits (a potential top-10 pick) putting home his first of the tournament with a power play snipe. It’s at this point that this game was starting to feel eerily similar to the earlier contest, with Latvia playing the role of Switzerland. At the midway point of the second period, Latvia was out-shooting Denmark 24-6 and looked to be in full control.
However, Denmark didn’t just go away. With a Denmark power play expiring, Oliver Larsen found the back of the net with a shot from the high slot. It was an excellent shot that rang off of the far post and was aided by a triple screen in front of the goaltender. Latvia had just finished successfully killing off the penalty, but still found themselves back in a situation where one bad bounce would tie the game.
Soon after, Latvia would get their own power play opportunity, and with another heavy screen, found their third goal of the game, Smits took a shot from out high that deflected in off of Markuss Sieradzkis. Denmark’s penalty kill looked particularly bad on this one, and this has been a theme for the Danes in this tournament. The penalty kill has been a major problem for them, killing just 7 of the 17 power plays that they’ve faced through four games.
Antons Macijevskis added another one for Latvia, and soon after William Bundgaard dropped the Lavtians’ lead back to two goals again off of a nice feed from Larson. While Denmark as a team has struggled, Larson has stood out positively in all four games, and has really been their catalyst on offense.
Latvia put on a clinic in puck possession during the third period, keeping the Danes pinned in their own zone for most of the final 20 minutes. They kept cycling on the perimeter and drew a couple of penalties, with Osmanis adding another power play goal with a quick rip from the middle of the ice. Hoping to create any semblance of offense, Denmark pulled the goaltender with more than four minutes remaining in regulation, and while they did get one, it was too little, too late. Smits hit a long-range empty-netter in the closing seconds of the game, and the final shot count was 42-12 in favor of the Latvians.
Final: Latvia 6 – Denmark 3
Next game up (LAT): Dec 31, 3:30 ET vs. Czechia
Next game up (DEN): Jan 2, 12:30 ET vs. Germany (Relegation)