Hradec, Stancl, Matej Mastalirsky each gets hat trick; United States faces Latvia
© Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Saturday is the third day of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held in Ottawa.
Czechia 14, Kazakhstan 2 — Czechia (2-0-0-0) scored eight goals in the second period of a Group B game at TD Place.
Vojtech Hradec (Utah Hockey Club) and Jakub Stancl (St. Louis Blues) each had a hat trick and two assists, and Matej Mastalirsky (2025 draft eligible) also scored three goals. Jan Kavan (2025 draft eligible) made 16 saves.
Kirill Lyapunov (2025 draft eligible) and Alexander Kim (2025 draft eligible) scored for Kazakhstan (0-0-0-2). Vladimir Nikitin (Ottawa Senators) made 17 saves on 26 shots. He was replaced during the first period by Jokhar Dudarkiyev (2025 draft eligible), who made five saves on 10 shots before Nikitin returned during the second.
Czechia scored twice in six seconds to open the scoring, with Mastalirsky knocking in a loose puck at 5:45. On the ensuing face-off, Petr Sikora (Washington Capitals) blocked a clearing attempt in the Kazakhstan zone and scored off a Stancl pass at 5:51.
It led 4-1 after the first period, then blew the game open during a 9:11 span in the second, starting with a tap-in by Adam Jecho (Edmonton Oilers) at 2:54 to make it 5-1.
Mastalirsky scored twice in the second to cap his hat trick, and Stancl also scored twice in the period.
Stancl and Hradec scored 31 seconds apart late in the third to finish their hat tricks.
Czechia plays Slovakia on Sunday (5 p.m. ET). Kazakhstan faces Slovakia on Monday (1 p.m. ET).
United States vs. Latvia (3:30 p.m. ET) — Latvia (0-1-0-0) scored the biggest upset in the history of the World Junior Championship on Friday with a stunning 3-2 shootout win against host Canada at Canadian Tire Centre. Linards Feldbergs (2025 eligible) made 55 saves and Eriks Mateiko (Capitals) scored the only goal in an eight-round shootout to give Latvia just its third preliminary-round win in tournament history and first against Canada. Feldbergs, who played through cramps during the shootout, said he would be ready to play against the United States (1-0-0-0) if given the chance.
“The win against Canada meant partly a lot and partly nothing because two points doesn’t give us nothing,” Latvia coach Artis Abols said. “I’m very proud because you know the stats for Team Latvia at the Under-20 World Juniors … it’s just our third win in 40 games. We need at least two more points, and the U.S. is the same level opponent (as Canada). We are happy but need to start preparing for [Saturday].”
Latvia scored eight goals in five games and were shut out three straight games at the 2024 WJC but reached the quarterfinals after a 6-2 win against Germany in the preliminary round. A 7-2 loss to the United States left them with an eighth-place finish. The United States, meanwhile, will look to continue to build momentum it gained after a 10-4 win against Germany on Thursday. The All-Boston College line of Gabe Perreault (two goals, one assist), James H Hagens (two goals, two assists) and Ryan Leonard (two assists) combined for nine points in the victory, and defenseman Cole Hutson had five assists, one short of the U.S. record (six assists in one game) by Doug Weight in 1991.
“We liked how we broke the puck out,” U.S. coach David Carle said. “We had some neutral zone turnovers and felt we knew during the game that that was an issue, and we got away with it, and we need to clean that part of our game up. Did some good things to score 10 goals, but we’re trying to continue to get better, learn and grow while winning.”
