World Juniors roundup: Latvia, Austria headed to relegation round

Latvia headed to relegation round after loss to Slovakia

Latvia will be fighting for their right to play in the 2024 tournament in Sweden after losing 3-0 to Slovakia on Friday.

Slovakia will play Switzerland for a shot to move up the standings on Saturday. Latvia will play either Germany or Austria, with the two teams meeting for a chance to avoid relegation later today.

The Slovaks still has a chance to win Group B with a win against Switzerland and an American regulation win over Finland. A win over the Swiss guarantees Slovakia second place, regardless of what happens to USA and Finland.

The first goal came at 17:52 in the opening period. Alex Ciernik, a 2023 NHL Draft prospect, took Peter Repcik’s feed and got it underneath a sprawling Patriks Berzins to give the Slovaks a 1-0 advantage.

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atvia woke up for the second, outshooting Slovakia 16-6, but Adam Gajan stood tall, stopping them all. Eventually, Latvia’s inability to beat Gajan ended up hurting them, as Simon Nemec blasted a shot off the lower blocker of Berzins and in for the 2-0 goal, one that ultimately sunk Latvia.

The Latvians pulled their goalie with four minutes left to try and score, but Filip Mesar fired the puck into an empty net to make it 3-0, putting an end to the contest.

Austria off to world junior relegation round after Germany wins

Despite scoring their first goal of the tournament, Austria will head to the relegation round after falling 4-2 to Germany on Friday.

The win was Germany’s first of the tournament, giving them three points. Regardless of the result, they’ll finish fourth as Canada (six points) has the tiebreaker in head-to-head action.

Austria will begin a three-game relegation round series with Latvia on Monday, with the team that wins two of them remaining in the top tournament for 2024. The loser will be relegated to Division IA and replaced by Norway.

The Germans scored first, with Julian Lutz finding Philipp Krening near the net for the 1-0 goal. The Germans then doubled it with harmless-looking wrister from the point at 21:34, with Leon van der Linde beating Michael Sicher with a shot over the blocker. Sicher’s night ended five minutes later after Nikolaus Heigl found his brother Thomas in front, giving Germany the 3-0 lead.

Austria started to play better hockey after that, and on the man advantage at 29:24, they finally had something to celebrate. Ian Scherzer, a 2023 NHL Draft prospect that scored Austria’s last goal in August, sent a nice wrist shot off of a pass from Vinzenz Rohrer to make it 3-1.

That excitement was short-lived, though. At 36:38, Kechter scored his from a Krening feed and made it 4-1, this time on new Austrian netminder Thomas Pfarrmaier. Jonas Dobnig, who missed the net on a penalty shot in the second period, scored to make it 4-2, but it wasn’t enough to help spark the comeback effort.

Three Stars

1. Adam Gajan, G (Slovakia, 2023): His 28 saves kept Slovakia out in front. Without his effort, the story could have been much different.
2. Nikita Quapp, G (Germany, Carolina): Quapp made 31 saves, including what seemed like 500 in the final three minutes of play.
3. Julian Lutz, F (Germany, Arizona): He didn’t score, but with two goals, Lutz had his best game of the tournament, and it mattered.