Day 2 games
Canada 2, Latvia 1 (OT): Michael Hage (Montreal Canadiens) scored a power-play goal 44 seconds into overtime, and Canada won its second straight game in Group B at 3M Arena at Mariucci on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Cole Reschny (Calgary Flames) also scored for Canada (1-1-0-0), and Gavin McKenna (2026 draft eligible) had two assists. Jack Ivankovic (Nashville Predators) made 26 saves.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Just happy I could help us get a win,” Hage said. “It was a good pass by Gavin. Glad I got pretty good wood on it.”
Rudolfs Berzkalns (2026 draft eligible) scored for Latvia (0-0-1-0), which played its first game of the tournament. Nils Maurins (2026 draft eligible) made 36 saves.
The game came one year to the day that Canada lost to Latvia 3-2 in a shootout. Ivankovic also was Canada’s goalie in that game. He made 24 saves through overtime, then stopped seven of eight shooters in the eight-round tiebreaker.
“We all live to play hockey and be at this tournament. No one really is too focused on last year’s team. Everybody’s focused on today,” Ivankovic said.
Canada began overtime on the power play after Latvia forward Roberts Naudins (2026 draft eligible) was penalized for delay of game at 19:08 of the third period.
McKenna, the projected top pick of the 2026 NHL Draft, got a loose puck on the right side of the offensive zone. He passed the puck to Hage, and he scored on a one-timer from the left face-off circle.
“He’s really smart,” Hage said of McKenna. “He’s very deceptive with his eyes and his stick. For me, it’s pretty easy to read off of, and it’s fun to play on a line with him.”
Reschny gave Canada a 1-0 lead at 2:22 of the second period on with a power-play goal. McKenna cycled the puck near the top of the offensive zone and reversed it back to Reschny in the right face-off circle. He skated to the middle of the ice and beat Maurins past the blocker with a shot from above the hash marks.
McKenna has four assists in two games. He had two primary assists in Canada’s 7-5 win against Czechia on Friday.
Berzkalns tied it 1-1 at 18:02 of the third period when he scored at the front of the net on the rebound of a shot by Krisjanis Sarts (2026 draft eligible).
“To come back even in a moment like that, it shows that we’re fighting for each other, and no matter what, we are just trying to do our stuff and we’re not watching who we are playing against,” said Latvia defenseman Alberts Smits (2026 draft eligible). “We’re just doing our thing.”
Latvia next plays Finland on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN). Canada faces Denmark on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
USA 2, Switzerland 1: Will Zellers (Boston Bruins) scored late in the second period and the United States held on for its second win of the tournament at Grand Casino Arena.
Brodie Ziemer (Buffalo Sabres) scored and Nicholas Kempf (Washington Capitals) made 12 saves in his World Juniors debut for the United States (2-0-0-0).
Basile Sansonnens (Vancouver Canucks) scored and Christian Kirsch (San Jose Sharks) made 16 saves for Switzerland (0-0-0-1).
The U.S. has never lost to Switzerland at World Juniors, winning 26 times and tying twice in 28 games. The Americans outshot Switzerland 18-13.
The U.S. lost defenseman Cole Hutson (Washington Capitals) at 11:01 of the second period after he was hit by the puck near the helmet area following a shot by defenseman Gian Meier from the right point. Several medics came to the aide of Hutson, the brother of Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, before he was strapped to a backboard and stretchered off the ice.
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“Cole’s back with us, and we’ll know more in the morning. But it was a scary situation, no question,” coach Bob Motzko said. “It’s a very close group of guys, and they responded, so that’s all we got on it. So he’s back with us and we’ll know more in the morning.”
Ziemer gave the United States a 1-0 lead at 1:12 of the second period on a snap shot from the high slot after taking a backhand pass from James Hagens (Boston Bruins).
Sansonnens pulled Switzerland into a 1-1 tie on a snap shot from the point at 12:34, 1:33 after Hutson left the game.
“We had to stick with it,” Motzko said. “The Swiss play aggressive and hard. And every tournament you get yourself in one of those type games where it’s 1-0, 2-1, and you’ve got to fight it out to the end. And we didn’t blink. I give our guys a ton of credit. I thought we played very well tonight. Sure, we would have loved another goal, but so did they and that’s how it ended.”
Zellers put the U.S. back in front at 14:40 when his shot from low in the left face-off circle beat Krisch to the short side under the crossbar. It was Zellers’ team-leading third goal of the tournament.
“I shoot on goalies in the summertime, and at these goalie skates the one thing that no one goalie likes is to get hit in the side of the head, near the ear,” Zellers said. “So when [the goalie] went down early, I kind of peeked a little bit and saw that there was a little bit of a gap there and just ring it off his ear and see what happens. And luckily enough it went in.”
Switzerland continues Group A pool play on Sunday (2 p.m., NHLN, TSN), and the United States will next play Slovakia on Monday (6 p.m., NHLN, TSN).
Slovakia 4, Germany 1: Tomas Chrenko, a C-rated skater on NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary players to watch list, scored a hat trick in Slovakia’s first win of the preliminary-round stage at Grand Casino Arena.
“It was a hard game. Big win for us,” Chrenko said. “I’m glad that we won, and we played really well and it was all about teamwork. Nice to get a hat trick — it means a lot. But like I said, without the teammates, I wouldn’t be able to score three goals.”
Adam Nemec (2026 NHL Draft eligible), the brother of New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec, had two assists, and Michal Pradel (Detroit Red Wings) made 34 saves for Slovakia (1-0-0-1).
Pradel made 16 saves in the third period when Germany was pressing.
“Well, there’s no easy game in the world,” Slovakia coach Peter Fruhauf said. “So even though the first period, we had the control and we had a lot of shots and chances, the teams here won’t give up. So that’s what they showed us in a second and we kind of like struggled with that. But of course, it’s a back-to-back game and it’s about will at the end. So I’m really happy that the boys blocked so many shots at the end, especially in PK, and our goalie was outstanding.”
Dustin Willhoft (2026 draft eligible) scored, and Linus Viellard (2026 draft eligible) made 34 saves for Germany (0-0-0-2).
Chrenko gave Slovakia a 1-0 lead off a scramble in the slot at 10:33 of the first period. The 18-year-old center extended Slovakia’s lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal on a redirection from the slot at 19:12.
Chrenko, a projected mid-round pick in the 2026 draft, completed his three-goal performance with a power-play goal at 13:23 of the second period for a 3-0 lead.
Willhoft pulled Germany within 3-1 at 11:09 of the third period on a backhand while skating through the slot.
Adam Belusko scored a short-handed, empty-net goal at 19:07 for the 4-1 final.
Germany resumes preliminary-round play against Sweden on Monday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN), as does Slovakia against the United States (6 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
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