Norway relegated for 2025 World Junior Championship as Germany wins elimination game
Norway will not participate in the 2025 World Junior Championship in Ottawa after losing 5-4 in overtime to Germany on Thursday.
The Norwegians will join Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary and Slovenia at the Division IA tournament next December. Kazakhstan won the most recent event last month to earn a spot in Group B in the main event, playing at TD Place Arena in Ottawa alongside Slovakia, Switzerland and the the teams that finish second and third this year.
Germany, meanwhile, will join Canada and Latvia in Group A, joining the first and fourth-place teams from this year’s event at the Canadian Tire Centre next year. The 2025 tournament will mark Germany’s sixth consecutive appearance in the top level, which they haven’t managed to do since their seven-tournament run from 1992 to 98.
Norway looked like the better team first, but one of Germany’s three NHL prospects opened the scoring. Julis Sumpf would rush the puck in, but it was Detroit’s Kevin Bicker at the doorstep who would knock the puck in to make it a 1-0 game at 9:40 in the first.
But Norway wouldn’t leave the ice in the first without something on the board. After top 2024 NHL Draft prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s shot was stopped by goaltender Mattias Bittner, Noah Steen scored on the wraparound to make it a 1-1 game with 3:50 left in the opening frame.
The second period started slower, but Germany regained their lead at 28:59. Veit Oswald returned from a one-game suspension and used his strength as a skater to blast in front of the net and outlast Norwegian goaltender Markus Stensrud for the 2-1 goal.
At 34:43, Norway answered back. This time, a strong shift from the team’s third line resulted in Martin Johnsen finding Mats Bakke Olsen in front for the 2-2 goal. It came after Bittner found himself struggling to find his footing in the crease, giving Norway some late-period momentum after training twice.
Unfortunately for Norway, they started way too slow in the third. With no shots in the first 10 minutes of play, Germany took advantage, with Phillip Sinn’s point shot at 49:58 just trickling past Stensrud and in for the 3-2 goal. Just 48 seconds later, a bad giveaway by 2024 NHL Draft prospect Stian Solberg led to Niklas Hubner scoring to make it a two-goal deficit.
But it wasn’t over. With the Germans down a man due to a rare faceoff violation, Brandsegg-Nygaard had a nice one-touch goal on the man advantage from Steen’s pass to make it a 4-3. Then, Bakke Olsen’s second goal just over a minute later made it 4-4, forcing the game to overtime.
It didn’t take long for the Germans to end it in overtime. After Norway missed a Grade-A chance at the other end, Sinn set up Moritz Elias up in the zone and he made no mistake, scoring 58 seconds in to win the game and keep the dream alive.
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