U.S. roars into semifinals at world junior hockey championship with 7-2 rout of Swiss

By The Canadian Press on January 2, 2025.

Team Latvia forward Davis Livsics (7) loses possession of the puck after being pressured by Team Sweden defenceman Theo Lindstein (9), forward Felix Nilsson (17) and defenceman Tom Willander (24) and during first period IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship quarterfinal action in Ottawa, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

OTTAWA – James Hagens and Ryan Leonard each scored twice, as the defending-champion Americans cruised into the semifinals of the world junior hockey championship with a 7-2 rout of Switzerland on Thursday.

Brandon Svoboda, Danny Nelson and Zeev Buium also scored for the United States.

Gabe Perreault added three assists for the U.S., which entered the playoffs after claiming the top seed in Group A with 10 points in the preliminary round from three regulation wins and an overtime loss.

Nils Rhyn and Andro Kaderli scored for Switzerland.

Hampton Slukynsky made 17 saves for the U.S. while Elijah Neuenschwander and Christian Kirsch combined to stop 24 of 31 shots for Switzerland.

Earlier, David Edstrom’s second-period power-play goal stood as the winner, and Sweden held on for a 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Latvia.

Zeb Forsfjall and Anton Wahlberg also scored for Sweden, which led 3-0 early in the second period.

Latvia, however, made the Swedes sweat, with Eriks Mateiko scoring back-to-back goals to cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the second intermission.

Latvian goaltender Linards Feldbergs had 47 saves on 50 shots.

Melker Thelin made 11 saves for Sweden.

Sweden, which topped Group B in the preliminary round with a 4-0 record, is looking for its first world junior title since 2012.

In Thursday’s other quarterfinals, Finland took on Slovakia and host Canada met Czechia.

In the relegation game earlier Thursday, Germany came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Kazakhstan 4-3.

With the win, Germany will return at the 2026 world junior championship while Kazakhstan is demoted to the Division I Group A tournament.

Julius Sumpf scored the winning goal for Germany, while Maxim Schafer scored twice and Edwin Tropmann had a goal and an assist.

Assanali Ruslanuly, Nikita Sitnikov and Artur Gross scored for Kazakhstan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2025.