Friday is the first day of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
Day 1 games
United States 6, Germany 3 — Will Zellers (Boston Bruins) had two goals and an assist for the United States in its Group A opener at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
The U.S. is seeking a third straight championship at the WJC. No country has won three in a row since Canada’s run of five straight from 2005-09.
“It was a good game,” Zellers said. “Overall, I feel like there were times we were up and down a little bit and gave them a little bit too much life in that second period. So we got to clean up some things going into the rest of the tournament. But overall, I thought our effort was there and our gameplay was pretty good.”
Cole Hutson (Washington Capitals) and A.J. Spellacy (Chicago Blackhawks) each had two assists, and Caleb Heil (Tampa Bay Lightning) made 18 saves for the United States in his World Juniors debut.
Timo Kose (2026 NHL Draft eligible), Simon Seidl (2026 draft eligible) and Lenny Boos (2026 draft eligible) scored for Germany. Dustin Willhoft (2026 draft eligible) had two assists, and Lennart Neisse (2026 draft eligible) made 41 saves.
Max Plante (Detroit Red Wings) gave the United States a 1-0 lead when he directed a rebound outside the left post over the line at 5:34 of the first period.
Chase Reid, an A-rated defenseman on NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary players to watch list, pushed it to 2-0 on a snap shot from the top of the left face-off circle off backhand pass by Zellers at 10:53.
William Horcoff (Pittsburgh Penguins) extended the lead to 3-0 on a shot from the slot at 15:55 of the first. James Hagens (Boston Bruins) made the play happen with a check behind Germany’s net to free the puck to Brodie Ziemer (Buffalo Sabres) at the bottom of the left circle. Horcoff then finished the play off a pass from Ziemer.
“I thought it was great,” Hagens said of his team’s effort. “There’s things that we have to clean up. But for that being our first tournament game, it’s, you know, I know we have a special group, so it’s going to be exciting going along.”
Kose pulled Germany within 3-1 on a rebound at 17:39.
Seidl cut the deficit to 3-2 on a shot from the slot at 5:46 of the second period.
Zellers increased the lead to 4-2 on a rebound at the right post at 10:31.
Boos scored just 56 seconds later off a quick transition to bring Germany within 4-3 at 11:27.
“I really liked a lot of things we did, and disliked a handful of things we did. But that’s what you get with all-star teams,” U.S. coach Bob Motzko said. “You’re going to turn pucks over … your heart is pounding, you want to do something and bad things happen when you don’t connect the dots. That’s what happened and then they got momentum, and they got hope. In the third period, though, we tightened up and really shut things down, played a smart game.”
Zellers scored his second of the game at 14:58 for a 5-3 lead before Cole Eiserman (New York Islanders) connected on a snap shot from the left face-off circle at 18:07 for the 6-3 final.
“It was a good feeling, especially after they got that one, and we went out there and [coach Bob Motzko] told us we had to have a big shift,” Zellers said. “So a way to get a big shift is to score goals. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of momentum back to our way, so that was big for us.”
Germany will next play Slovakia on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN3), when the United States will face off against Switzerland (6 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN3).
Canada 7, Czechia 5 — Zayne Parekh scored two goals as Canada held on to win its Group B opener at 3M Arena at Mariucci on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
“Not where we want to be. You just want to get better each game,” Parekh said. “I think we got to manage pucks more. You look at all their goals, they come off pretty much turnovers or when won battles by them. We come out with the win, which is all that matters, but just got to keep getting better each game.”
Michael Hage (Montreal Canadiens) and Ethan Mackenzie (2026 draft eligible) each had a goal and two assists, and Brady Martin (Nashville Predators) had a goal and an assist for Canada, which had lost to Czechia in the quarterfinals of the WJC in 2024 and 2025. Carter George (Los Angeles Kings) made 28 saves.
Tomas Poletin (New York Islanders) scored twice, Vojtech Cihar (Los Angeles Kings) had a goal and two assists, and Petr Sikora (Washington Capitals) and Tomas Galvas (2026 draft eligible) each had a goal and an assist for Czechia. Michal Orsulak (2026 draft eligible) made 20 saves.
Martin put Canada ahead 1-0 at 13:53 of the first period when he scored from the slot off a spinning centering pass from Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2026 NHL Draft, who had two assists.
“I saw him there. I saw ‘Hager’ (Michael Hage) make a great play to me,” McKenna said. “I knew ‘Marty’ was flying down the left side, and I thought maybe catch the Czechs a little bit off guard. When Marty gets the puck there, he’s not going to miss very much.”
Poletin tied the game 1-1 at 17:01 when he got to the net and tipped a shot by Adam Benak (Minnesota Wild).
Hage put Canada ahead 2-1 at 17:38 when scored with a shot from between the top of the circles.
Cihar evened it 2-2 at 4:02 of the second period during a delayed penalty on Canada. He was open at the front of the net and tipped a Benak pass past George.
“I think we played really good,” Cihar said. “We scored five goals against Canada, which is a lot, but we need to figure out what to do in the [defensive zone], because seven goals, it’s just too much. We need to stay calm. Tomorrow, it’s another game, so we need to go rest and tomorrow we will see.”
Sikora put Czechia ahead 3-2 at 12:13. Vaclav Nestrasil (Chicago Blackhawks) won a puck battle behind the Canada net and sent it out front to Cihar, who kicked it to Sikora, and he scored on a shot from the right hash mark.
“I think we start on a good note, and I think if we’re playing like this every single game, it’s going to be only good for us,” Nestrasil said. “… We had parts of that game that we were better than them. And I think that’s the most important.”
Parekh tied the game 3-3 at 17:02 with a shot from above the right face-off circle.
Canada went ahead 4-3 on a Parekh power-play goal at 3:49 of the third period. He gloved down a tipped pass, skated to right circle and scored to the far side with a wrist shot.
“He was really good,” Canada coach Dale Hunter said of Parekh. “He moves pucks, passed well, shot well. So he was really good.”
Poletin scored from the left post to tie the game 4-4 at 5:21.
Tij Iginla (Utah Mammoth) put Canada ahead 5-4 at 6:32 with a shot from the left circle off the rush.
Mackenzie made it 6-4 at 9:12 with a goal from between the top of the face-off circles.
Galvas pushed the lead to 6-5 at 15:26 after a Canada defensive-zone turnover.
Porter Martone (Philadelphia Flyers) closed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:00.
“I think we got to find ways to get pucks to the net a little bit more,” McKenna said. “I think we scored seven goals, or whatever it was, but I think we could have scored more if we got more traffic and pucks to the net. And obviously can’t be giving up five goals a game. We got to kind of clean that up a little bit. Just little details, I think. But first game of the tournament, there’s lots of time.”
Canada will play Latvia on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET; TSN), when Czechia will face off against Denmark (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
Sweden 3, Slovakia 2 — Anton Frondell (Chicago Blackhawks) and Ivar Stenberg (2026 draft eligible) each had a goal and an assist for Sweden in its first game in Group A at Grand Casino Arena.
“We have the opportunity, we have everything to win,” Frondell said. “Sweden has just two gold medals and the last was 14 years ago so we have everything to win here.”
Victor Eklund (New York Islanders) scored and Love Harenstram (St. Louis Blues) made 23 saves for Sweden.
Stenberg, a projected top-five selection in the 2026 NHL Draft, finished a breakout with Eddie Genborg (Detroit Red Wings) at 16:03 of the third period for Sweden’s winning goal.
“It was a good pass from Genborg and a classic forehand-backhand move,” Stenberg said.
Tomas Pobezal (2026 draft eligible) and Tobias Tomik (2026 draft eligible) each scored and Alan Lendak (2026 draft eligible) made 29 saves for Slovakia.
Frondell gave Sweden a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right face-off circle at 9:05 of the second period.
“It’s obviously a nice feeling when you see the puck goes into the net and it wasn’t the first shot for me, so it was relaxing to see it go in,” Frondell said.
Eklund made it 2-0 with another power-play goal on a shot from the slot off a pass from Frondell at 13:16.
Pobezal scored to pull Slovakia within 2-1 on a 5-on-3 power play with a wrist shot from the high slot at 19:55.
Sweden appeared to take a 3-1 lead 4:54 into the third period when Viggo Bjorck (2026 draft eligible) scored a short-handed goal, but Slovakia successfully challenged for goalie interference when Bjorck’s skate hit the glove of Lendak as he skated through the crease.
Tomik then pulled Slovakia into a 2-2 tie on a backhand attempt from the slot at 10:55.
“We played a good game. We have to be better at the end,” Slovakia forward Adam Nemec (2026 draft eligible) said. “We need to get a minimum of one point (in these games). [Saturday] is next game and we’re gonna win.”
Slovakia’s next game will be against Germany on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN3). Sweden’s next game will be against Switzerland on Sunday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
Finland 6, Denmark 2 — Roope Vesterinen (2026 draft eligible) scored two goals, and Jasper Kuhta (2026 draft eligible) had three assists for Finland in the first Group B game at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
“I have a good feeling for the game,” Finland coach Lauri Mikkola said. “Started with the win, and of course we managed the puck a lot of time in the game, and I know we have lots of chances to score many goals. But there’s a lot of things to do and getting better for this tournament, but a good start for us.”
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Onni Kalto (2026 draft eligible), Oliver Suvanto (2026 draft eligible), Aatos Koivu (Montreal Canadiens) and Joona Saarelainen (Tampa Bay Lightning) also scored for Finland. Petteri Rimpinen (Los Angeles Kings) made eight saves.
William Bundgaard (2026 draft eligible) and Anton Linde (2026 draft eligible) scored for Denmark, which played its first game at the top level of World Juniors since 2019. Anton Emil Wilde Larsen (2026 draft eligible) made 37 saves.
Vesterinen gave Finland a 1-0 lead at 1:49 of the first period when he banged in his own rebound in front.
Kalto made it 2-0 at 2:19 when he drove through the center of the ice and tapped in a centering a pass by Max Westergard (Philadelphia Flyers).
Bundgaard got Denmark on the board when he scored off the rebound of Frederick Amondsen’s (2026 draft eligible) shot to make it 2-1 at 6:08.
Suvanto’s power-play goal from the slot put Finland ahead 3-1 at 10:07.
“Of course, it was nice to play with these guys, first game for me in the U-20 level, so that was nice,” Suvanto said. “But of course, it wasn’t an easy game. We got (a lot of) offensive time, but I think we could have created more goals that way. I think it was a positive start for us and good to build on that continuing in this tournament.”
Koivu’s one-timer from between the hashmarks increased the lead to 4-1 at 4:45 of the second period.
Saarelainen scored a power-play goal off the rebound of a Lasse Boelius (Anaheim Ducks) shot to make it 5-1 at 6:19.
Vesterinen scored his second when he tapped in a feed from Leo Tuuva (2026 draft eligible) to push it to 6-1 at 11:21.
Linde scored on the power play at 2:22 of the third period for the 6-2 final.
“We came out a little bit shaky in the first period, I thought, leading to some easy goals,” Denmark defenseman Viggo Damgaard (2026 draft eligible) said. “I thought in third period we came out as a good team. We played good hockey. Playing against Finland, it’s a big country, but I think we played a good game against them.”
Denmark next plays Czechia on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN ). Finland plays Latvia on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman and NHL.com senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report.
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