2025 World Juniors: Scoring – or the absence of – highlight storylines for Dec. 27

OTTAWA – The 2025 World Junior Championship kicked off on Thursday, with Canada, USA, Sweden and Czechia nabbing victories.

It’s too early to notice any trends or react overwhelmingly in any specific direction. But with a short round-robin, with just four games per team leading up to New Year’s Eve, there’s no room for error at an event like this.

Catch up on everything from Day 1, and check out everything Day 2 has in store in Ottawa:

1. Canada looks to stay hot

Canada has won every game dating back to its two-game selection camp with the U SPORTS selects team earlier this month, so they’re riding a high. They haven’t particularly dominated any opponent, but they have outshot everyone so far, including Finland, in a tournament-opening 4-0 victory on Thursday. Carter George made all 31 saves for the shutout, but it’s expected that they’ll go to 17-year-old draft-eligible keeper Jack Ivankovic for the second game.

Now facing Latvia, Canada will look to build upon the Game 1 momentum and improve on their special teams. They took six minor penalties against Finland – the most of any team – and killed them all. But they also failed to score on any of their three opportunities, something the Finns could have easily exploited if they found a way past George.

Latvia has never beaten Canada, and even lost 10-0 in the last meeting 365 days ago. In fact, Canada has scored at least 10 goals in all but one of the four meetings between them. Look for something different – but in Canada’s sake, they can’t afford to back down and create bad habits.

2. Can Axel Sandin-Pellikka creep closer to history?

It’s rare for a defenseman to get a hat-trick at the World Juniors – let alone in the first game. Sandin Pellikka, a Detroit Red Wings prospect, managed to do it in a 5-2 victory over Slovakia, with ASP snagging four points himself.

The single tournament goal-scoring record by a defenseman is seven, set by Finland’s Juha Jyrkkio in 1977. Nobody has scored more than nine in their total career. Sandin-Pellikka is at five, so if he stays hot, we could be looking at something special here. And if he does continue to produce, we could be looking at just the second player to win top defenseman twice in tournament history behind 1970’s Russian standout Viacheslav Fetisov.

The good news? Sweden plays Kazakhstan, a team most expect to be in the relegation conversation this year. It’ll be interesting if the coaching staff lets him run free and try and chase the scoring title, or if they’ll shelter him in favor of keeping him ready for meetings against Czechia and Switzerland later in the tournament.

3. Finland’s offense needs a big bounce-back

Finland had a strong final period against Canada tonight, but it came a bit too late. Konsta Helenius, Benjamin Rautiainen, Jesse Kiiskinen, Emil Hemming, Kasper Halttunen and Rasmus Kumpulainen – all crucial players – combined for two shots in the first 40 minutes.

Today’s game against Germany could be a confidence booster for the Finns. Germany lost 10-4 to the United States and 11-1 to Sweden in the final round-robin game on Monday. When the two teams met in 4 Nations action back in February, Finland demolished the Germans 11-0. But Finland can’t take them lightly despite the perceived edge in skill – Germany beat Finland 4-3 on this day a year ago. That was a sign of real problems for the Finns in what proved to be a difficult round-robin for them.

If the Finns are going to change the course, they need the big guns to come out flying. Petteri Rimpinen looked good in net yesterday, but look for a change in Game 2 to Kim Saarinen to give him some rest. But it doesn’t matter who’s in net if they can’t start scoring.

Friday’s Schedule

Switzerland vs. Slovakia: 1:00 PM ET
Germany vs. Finland: 3:30 PM ET
Sweden vs. Kazakhstan: 5:00 PM ET
Canada vs. Latvia: 7:30 PM ET

Here are the standings after day 1️⃣of #WorldJuniors 😜#IIHF pic.twitter.com/tJMwIxfeJZ

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 27, 2024