The United States, which went undefeated in winning last year’s world junior hockey championship, will look to improve to 2-0 Saturday at this year’s tournament in Ottawa.
But standing in the way is a Latvia team that pulled off a massive upset against host Canada on Friday.
Defenseman Peteris Bulans tied the game with 2:29 left in regulation and forward Eriks Mateiko, a Washington Capitals 2024 third-round pick, scored the lone goal of an eight-round shootout to give Latvia a 3-2 victory. Mateiko also scored in regulation and Linards Feldbergs made 56 saves.
It was Latvia’s first world juniors win against Canada, which lost defenseman Matthew Schaefer after he slammed his shoulder into the net during a scoring attempt.
The Americans had a day of rest Friday after beating Germany 10-4 in the opener on Thursday.
The United States has brought back 10 players and coach David Carle to this year’s tournament, which features the world’s best under-20 players, including drafted and draft-eligible NHL prospects.
Here’s what to know about the Dec. 26-Jan. 5 world junior championships:
The games will be aired on NHL Network in the United States and on TSN in Canada.
Dec. 26: United States 10, Germany 4. James Hagens had two goals and two assists and Cole Hutson had five assists. Hagens opened the scoring in the first period and put the USA back ahead by two goals after Germany had pulled to within 3-2 in the second period. The USA outshot Germany 56-22.
Dec. 28: United States vs. Latvia, 3:30, NHLN, TSN
Dec. 29: Finland vs. United States, 2:30, NHLN, TSN4
Dec. 31: United States vs. Canada, 8, NHLN, TSN
The 25-player U.S. team (14 forwards, eight defenseman and three goaltenders) features six NHL first-round picks, eight second-round picks and eight others drafted in other rounds. Twenty-two of the players are on college hockey teams.
Goaltenders
Number, player, team
*-played on last year’s team
1 Trey Augustine, Michigan State*
30 Hampton Slukynsky, Western Michigan
31 Sam Hillebrandt, Barrie Colts*
Defensemen
Number, player, team
3 Logan Hensler, Wisconsin
4 Colin Ralph, St. Cloud State
5 Drew Fortescue, Boston College*
6 Adam Kleber, Minnesota Duluth
14 Aram Minnetian, Boston College*
16 Paul Fischer, Notre Dame
24 Cole Hutson, Boston University
28 Zeev Buium, University of Denver*
Forwards
Number, player, team
2 Teddy Stiga, Boston College
8 Brandon Svoboda, Boston University
9 Ryan Leonard, Boston College*
10 Carey Terrance, Erie Otters*
11 Oliver Moore, University of Minnesota*
12 James Hagens, Boston College
17 Danny Nelson, Notre Dame*
19 Trevor Connelly, Providence College
20 Joey Willis, Saginaw Spirit
22 Max Plante, Minnesota Duluth
23 Austin Burnevik, St. Cloud State
34 Gabe Perreault, Boston College*
74 Brodie Ziemer, University of Minnesota
91 Cole Eiserman, Boston University
Team USA’s James Hagens was listed among Central Scouting’s early season top prospects to watch and could go No. 1 overall in the 2025 NHL draft. He has 20 points in 16 Boston College games and is playing at this tournament with college linemates Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault.
Other A-rated skaters at this tournament include USA defenseman Logan Hensler, Canada forward Porter Martone and Canada defenseman Matthew Schaeffer.
Forward Victor Eklund, brother of the San Jose Sharks‘ William Eklund, is playing for Sweden.
The USA is in Group A with Canada, Finland, Germany and Latvia. Group B features Czechia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland.
All times p.m. ET
Dec. 26
Dec. 27
Dec. 28
Dec. 29
Dec. 30
Dec. 31
Jan. 2
Jan. 4
Jan. 5
This story has been updated to add new information.
