Axel Hurtig and Team Sweden have advanced to the semi-finals at the 2025 World Juniors, following a 3-2 victory over Latvia Thursday in the quarter-final round.
The Swedes built up a 3-0 lead, then withstood a Latvian rally to book their place in the final four.
Hurtig finished +1 on the afternoon, recording one shot on goal over 12:35 of ice-time.
Sweden enjoyed some quick-strike offence in period one, scoring goals 1:22 apart to take a 2-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old.
Zeb Forsfjall opened the scoring at the 8:30 mark, before Anton Wahlberg extended the advantage with his fourth goal of the tournament.
David Edstrom pushed the Swedish lead to 3-0 3:57 into the second period, capitalizing with a powerplay marker.
But Latvia would not go quietly, getting a pair of goals from Eriks Mateiko later in period two to cut the deficit to a single goal through 40 minutes.
Sweden outshot Latvia 18-2 in the third period, and 50-13 overall, but could not extend their lead thanks to a heroic effort from Latvian netminder Linards Feldbergs, who made 47 saves on the afternoon.
Sweden's semi-final opponent will be confirmed by end of day Thursday when the quarter-final round concludes.
Both semi-final matchups will take place Saturday.
Photo by Matt Zambonin/IIHF
