Tag: Preview

The quarter-finals mark the moment of truth at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship. It’s when a team’s tournament can turn into a triumph or a disaster.

It depends on expectations, of course. For up-and-coming hockey nations, just making the final eight is an accomplishment. But for the perennial medal contenders, there is pressure aplenty in this do-or-die situation. In 2009, Ottawa witnessed a major World Junior upset when Slovakia beat the U.S. 5-3 in the quarter-finals. Is more such drama in store?

Let’s take a closer look at our quarter-final matchups on Thursday. All times are local (Eastern Standard Time).

Sweden-Latvia (12:00)

On paper, it’s impossible not to pick Sweden in this TD Place Arena matchup. The well-structured Juniorkronorna, who won last year’s silver medal, amassed a perfect group-stage record with an impressive 24-10 goal difference. They have the tournament’s best power play (7-for-20, 35 percent) and three of the tournament’s top 10 scorers. The list goes on.

That doesn’t mean coach Magnus Havelid’s boys will take the Latvians lightly, even though the small Baltic nation has never finished higher than seventh at a World Juniors (2022). Latvia’s 3-2 shootout upset over host Canada put everyone on notice.

“Of course, we’re going to be favourites, but still, we need to play our best at all times,” said Swedish captain Axel Sandin Pellikka, who leads the tournament scoring race (4+4=8). “They’re a really good team, so we’d better start preparing as soon as possible.”

The Latvians also managed to stay within one goal of the Americans in their 5-1 loss for more than 25 minutes, and they will look to do the same against the Swedes, trying to engender a sense of doubt. Power forward Eriks Mateiko has been clutch with a team-leading three goals so far.

Latvian captain Peteris Bulans said: “We need to play simple: send bodies to the net and pucks to the net and get the rebounds and deflections, simple hockey in the O-zone.”

However, barring another miraculous performance from Latvian goalie Renards Feldbergs, who has faced a tournament-high 163 shots with a sparkling 96.3 save percentage, the Swedes should find a way to advance.

USA-Switzerland (14:30)

Could our second quarter-final at the Canadian Tire Centre feature duelling power plays? If so, it’d sure be fun for the fans, if not necessarily U.S. coach David Carle or his Swiss counterpart Marcel Jenni, who want to see good discipline. But the reality is that for Switzerland, scoring on the power play is most likely their only hope of eliminating the defending champions.

Six of Switzerland’s last seven goals have come with the man advantage, including four in the third period of the 7-5 loss to Sweden and two in the critical 3-1 win over Kazakhstan. With that said, the U.S. PP is also heating up at the right time, capitalizing three times to down archrival Canada 4-1 on New Year’s Eve.

Outside of special teams, the Americans have the edge across the board.

Although the top line of James Hagens (2+4=6), Gabe Perreault and captain Ryan Leonard (2+2=4 apiece) hasn’t been as dominant as projected, the U.S. is getting timely secondary scoring from the likes of sniper Cole Eiserman (2+4=6) and Danny Nelson (3+1=4). Number one D-man Zeev Buium has been a minutes monster, averaging 24:53 per game, but the best U.S. player has been Cole Hutson (4+4=8), period. A savvy play-driver, the younger brother of Montreal’s Lane Hutson could surpass Erik Johnson’s 2007 record for most points (10) by a U.S. defender in a World Juniors.

Unless three-time U.S. World Junior goalie Trey Augustine has a shaky outing against the likes of Switzerland’s Leo Braillard (3+0=3), it’s hard to see the Americans going home early.

Finland-Slovakia (17:00, TD Place Arena)

The Canadians may have done the Finns a huge favour by blanking them 4-0 on Day One. Since that rough welcome to Ottawa, Finland has settled into a good groove with three consecutive wins.

Outshooting the U.S. 44-33 in a 4-3 overtime victory was a statement for coach Lauri Mikkola’s crew. And Petteri Rimpinen – although undrafted – has put himself into the Best Goalie conversation with his 1.74 GAA and 94.7 save percentage, having capped off the preliminary round with a 3-0 shutout against Latvia.

Finland has epitomized a balanced attack in Ottawa, with 16 skaters thus far registering at least one point. Among the forwards, Jesse Kiiskinen has been hot (3+0=3), and Arttu Alasiurua (2+0=2) had a great game against the Americans. To see one-timer king Kasper Halttunen end his drought with a PP blast against Latvia was important. And defensively, the Finns boast the tournament’s best PK (0 goals allowed on 13 disadvantages) and the second-lowest goals against (eight). Can they keep it rolling against Slovakia at TD Place Arena? There’s always room for improvement.

“We have the puck a lot, but we have to get more guys to the front of the net,” said Finland’s Benjamin Rautiainen.

For Slovakia, it’s all about what their veterans can deliver.

Captain and top centre Dalibor Dvorsky, playing his fourth World Juniors at age 19, has excelled on the attack (4+3=7) and on faceoffs (65 percent on 83 draws). This is a one-line team with big Juraj Pekarcik (2+3=5) teaming up nicely with Dvorsky – a fellow St. Louis Blues prospect – and Daniel Jencko (2+2=4).

On defence, assistant captain Maxim Strbak (23:35) is averaging one minute a game more than Dvorsky (22:35) and making an offensive impact (1+4=5). Luka Radivojevic has also performed well, chipping in two assists and averaging 19:03 a game.

That said, unless Slovak starter Samuel Urban (3.28 GAA, 87.5 save percentage) stands on his head and the Finns play uncharacteristically loosey-goosey hockey, Slovakia will likely suffer a quarter-final exit for the tenth consecutive year. 

Canada-Czechia (19:30)

This is the most intriguing of the four matchups, and not just because it features the world’s traditional hockey superpower playing at home.

The Canadians have revenge on their minds. The Czechs eliminated Canada last year with a 3-2 quarter-final win, as Jakub Stancl scored his second goal of the game with just 0:11 left. Meanwhile, the Czechs – who won precisely zero medals from 2006 to 2021 – are hungry to keep their current medal streak alive after taking silver in 2023 versus Canada and bronze last year against the Finns.

What everyone’s wondering is, can coach Dave Cameron’s team find its game in time? Apart from beating Finland 4-0 in their opener, the Canadians have been snake-bitten offensively. In the 4-1 loss to the Americans, they outshot their rivals by a 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 margin at times, but couldn’t score. Worse still was the discipline meltdown by go-to attackers, as team scoring leader Easton Cowan (1+2=3), Luca Pinelli (1+0=1) and Sam Dickinson (0+0=0) accumulated 4 PIM apiece on New Year’s Eve. Wunderkind Gavin McKenna, the projected #1 overall pick for the 2026 NHL Draft, isn’t taking penalties but hasn’t scored since Day One.

Goalie Carter George, though, has been absolutely stellar, recording a 1.01 GAA, and a tournament-best 96.3 save percentage and two shutouts. That’s a saving grace. George needs to keep it up, especially if Canada remains out of sync on Thursday.

Looking forward to taking on the Czechs at the Canadian Tire Centre, McKenna said: “We’re going to have to put pucks in the back of the net. They’re a good team, so we have to be ready.”

Czechia’s winning streak ended in the 4-2 loss to Sweden that decided first place in Group B. But they were competitive in that game, apart from the second-period defensive lapses that cost them dearly. Czech captain Eduard Sale noted that they also need to clean up their discipline after taking 14 PIM against the Swedes: “It’s better to get this wake-up call in the group stage, not about how we play but about penalties, because it was stupid penalties, and we can’t do that.”

Sale joins Stancl and Vojtech Hradec among the Czech forwards who have four goals apiece, while assistant captain Matej Mastalirsky and Petr Sikora each have three goals. It’s heartening for coach Patrik Augusta to get contributions from the back end too, including five assists for Jakub Fibigr and four for Vojtech Port. This is the tournament’s highest-scoring squad so far (25 goals), although the 14-2 blowout against Kazakhstan does inflate the count.

A solid two-way effort is essential against Canada. The host nation has fired a World Junior-leading 173 shots on goal. Assuming that towering goalie Michael Hrabal (2.36 GAA, 92.5 save percentage) will easily ward off 40-plus shots would be foolish. Still, the Czechs can feel good about their game overall, as Sikora affirmed: “I’m confident, and our team is confident too. So we are going to show it.”

Only once before has Canada lost a quarter-final on home ice. In 2019, Finland stunned the hosts 2-1 in Vancouver on Toni Utunen’s overtime goal. This 2025 showdown could go either way, but it’s not hard to imagine the Czechs advancing this year, as they have more momentum.