Sweden hangs on for quarterfinal win over Latvia at world junior hockey championship

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 – David Edstrom’s second-period power-play goal stood as the winner, and Sweden held on for a 3-2 victory over Latvia in quarterfinal action Thursday at the world junior hockey championship.

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.

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, the United States faced Switzerland, 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.