2025 World Juniors: Two-day slate highlights top storylines for Dec. 28
OTTAWA – Saturday will see the first two-game day of the 2025 World Junior Championship, with just one battle in each arena highlighting a quiet third day in Ottawa.
On paper, both games seem to have a clear favorite, with USA and Czechia expected to beat Latvia and Kazakhstan, respectively. But if the Latvians taught us anything on Friday in their shocking win against Canada, it’s that you can’t count out anyone in a short tournament like this.
Catch up with everything that happened on Day 2, and check out the biggest storylines for Day 3:
1. Can Latvia keep the magic alive?
Most people understandably wrote off Latvia in the game against Canada – a team they had never beaten before. And if all went according to plan, the United States would be set for another dominant victory, too. But, clearly, you can’t underestimate them. The Latvians kept Canada to the perimeter all game long, and goalie Linards Feldbergs played the game of his life. Suddenly, Latvia is the talk of the tournament after pulling off one of the most incredible upsets we’ve ever seen.
Can they do it against the defending champions from the United States? Don’t count on it. The Latvians have never remotely been a difficult challenge in this matchup, which included a 7-2 victory in the quarterfinals a year ago. The Americans are flying high, having won all their pre-tournament games before putting up 10 goals against the Germans. Latvia may have truly pulled off a heist in a way nobody saw coming, but you’d be hard pressed to think it’ll happen again… right?
2. USA’s defense needs to be much better
For a team that arguably has the best defender in the tournament, Zeev Buium, and a puck-moving dynamo like Cole Hutson, the USA’s blueline nearly let them down against Germany. In the opening 40 minutes, the Americans allowed too many high-quality looks in transition and gave the puck over way too often for comfort.
In a perfect world, coach David Carle will limit Buium’s ice time simply because everyone else is holding up their end of the bargain. The group looked lazy and uncoordinated too often for a group that was built around familiarity on the national stage, and Germany made them pay for it four times. There was such a talent disparity in that game that it was kind of crazy to think that some bad turnovers led to it being a one-goal game midway through.
Clearly, the Americans can’t underestimate Latvia – but if everything rolls like we know it can, the Americans should be able to come out ahead.
3. Can Czechia’s offense stay rolling?
The biggest question heading into the tournament for Czechia was where their scoring was going to come from. Eduard Sale was the obvious answer, but a so-so pre-tournament, mixed in with some inconsistency at the pro level, left some wondering if he’d be enough.
Fortunately, five different players found the scoresheet against Switzerland on Dec. 26, so that was a promising sign. The shots were quite varied across the board, too – nobody dominated in that respect in Game 1. Kazakhstan shouldn’t be too big of a challenge for them, especially after losing 8-1 to Sweden on Friday, but the Czechs will want the offense to keep flying high to maintain momentum ahead of their big bout with Slovakia on Sunday afternoon.
Saturday’s Schedule
Czechia vs. Kazakhstan: 1:00 PM ET
USA vs. Latvia: 3:30 PM ET
Here are the standings at the end of day 2️⃣#WorldJuniors #IIHF pic.twitter.com/EeFSfyG6eB
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 28, 2024