2025 World Juniors: Top standouts from Czechia vs. Sweden

Credit: (Steven Ellis/The Nation Network)

Birthday boy Herman Träff had two big goals to help lift Sweden over Czechia with a 4-2 victory, helping his country claim top spot in Group B.

Czechia finished second in Group B and will await their opponent in the quarterfinal after the end of the Canada vs. USA game.

The first period was full of action on both ends of the ice, but remained scoreless through 20 minutes as both Melker Thelin and Michael Hrabal stood tall in net. Träff scored both of his goals in the second to make it 2-0, only for Petr Sikora to launch a one-timer to cut the lead in half. That momentum didn’t last for the Czechs, as both Felix Unger Sörum and Anton Whalberg found the back of the net to make it 4-1 before the end of the second.

Czechia wasn’t completely done, though. Eduard Sale scored on a penalty shot to cut the lead in half in the third, giving his team some life. Unfortunately for the Czechs, Thelin was great the rest of the way to help secure the victory.

Czechia

#17 Petr Sikora, C (Washington Capitals): After a couple of failed attempts, Sikora was able to blast a one-timer from the right-hand circle to beat Melker Thelin and cut the lead to one on the Czech powerplay. Sikora has a wicked shot and has used that to his advantage to catch goalies off guard.

#12 Eduard Sale, C (Seattle Kraken): Sale had himself another a solid night; he was in and around the net and was active in many offensive situations. Sale then made no mistake on the penalty shot, but it didn’t prove to be enough to spark the comeback effort. Still, hard to be disappointed with the way he played throughout the round-robin, living up to the high expectations.

Sweden

#21 Herman Träff, LW (New Jersey Devils): The birthday boy had two big goals for the Swedes. He opened the scoring on a nice feed from Theo Lindstein before finding the back of the net for a second time on a sweet play from Otto Stenberg.

#16 Felix Unger Sörum, C (Carolina Hurricanes): Unger Sorum was a forechecking machine this game. He was all over Czechia, disrupting plays and getting the puck back in the offensive zone. Unger Sorum had a big goal in the second period to give Sweden the 3-1 lead.

#22 Anton Wahlberg, LW, (Buffalo Sabres): Another multi-point night for the Buffalo Sabres prospect as Wahlberg picked up an assist on Traff’s second goal and then scored to make it 4-1 in the latter half of the second. Wahlberg has arguably been Sweden’s best player in this tournament after joining the team from the AHL’s Rochester Americans.