World Junior Championship roundup: Switzerland defeats Kazakhstan, advances to quarterfinals

Tuesday is the sixth day of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held in Ottawa.

Day 6 games:

Switzerland 3, Kazakhstan 1 -- Simon Meier (2025 NHL Draft eligible) and Ludwig Johnson (2025 draft eligible) each had a goal and an assist in the final preliminary round game at TD Place to help Switzerland earn a quarterfinal-round berth.

Eric Schneller (2025 draft eligible) had two assists and Christian Kirsch (San Jose Sharks) made 11 saves for Switzerland (1-0-0-3), which earned its first win of the tournament after being outscored 14-7 in three losses.

Switzerland was 2-for-6 on the power play.

"We had good puck movement and that really helped us today," Johnson said. "It was a big part of our power play."

Vladimir Nikitin (Ottawa Senators) made 32 saves for Kazakhstan (0-0-1-3).

Meier, who will play at Northern Michigan University next season, scored a power-play goal to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead at 1:41 of the first period.

"I actually didn't think I got a lot on it, but it was enough, I guess," Meier said. "We moved the puck around really well there, and luckily it went in. [Rico] Gredig did a good job of screening the goalie there, and so I don't think he saw where the puck went."

Kirill Lyapunov (2025 draft eligible) made it 1-1 for Kazahkstan on a wrist shot from the slot at 6:10.

Robin Antenen, a W rated skater on NHL Central Scouting players to watch list for the 2025 draft, gave Switzerland a 2-1 lead on a snap shot from the left half boards at 17:18 of the second.

Johnson pushed it to 3-1 with a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right face-off dot at 8:59 of the third.

Kazakhstan will play Germany in the relegation round game Thursday (11 a.m. ET). Switzerland will play the United States on Thursday in the quarterfinal round at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Finland 3, Latvia 0 -- Petteri Rimpinen (2025 draft eligible) made 28 saves and Finland finished play in Group A at Canadian Tire Centre with its second straight victory.

Benjamin Rautiainen (2025 draft eligible) had a goal and an assist, and Jesse Kiiskinen (Detroit Red Wings) and Kasper Halttunen (San Jose Sharks) scored for Finland (2-1-0-1, eight points), which finished second in Group A. Finland defeated the United States 4-3 in overtime Sunday.

"I think pretty solid performance for us," Rautiainen said. "We play pretty good 60 minutes and it's a great win."

Linards Feldbergs (2025 draft eligible) made 36 saves for Latvia (0-2-0-2, four points), which finished fourth.

Latvia was coming off a 4-3 overtime win against Germany on Monday but the players said that had no bearing on their play.

"It can't be our excuse," forward Eriks Mateiko (Washington Capitals) said. "I feel like we just have to play smarter. ... We didn't play a really good game today overall."

Rautiainen scored at 7:05 of the first period to make it 1-0. Konsta Helenius (Buffalo Sabres) bounced off a check on the right side of the Latvia zone, skated to the net and slid a pass through the slot to Rautiainen, who scored from the left side.

"Konsta made a pretty good move," Rautiainen said. "When I got the puck in the middle, I just wait a little bit and an open net to score. Pretty nice to have one go in."

Kiiskinen made it 2-0 at 7:06 of the second. Heikki Ruohonen (Philadelphia Flyers) won a face-off on the left side of the Latvia zone, with Kiiskinen pushing the puck to Daniel Nieminen (2025 draft eligible). Kiiskinen rotated back to the point, got the puck back from Nieminen and scored through traffic.

Halttunen scored a power-play goal from the left face-off circle for a 3-0 lead at 2:05 of the third.

Latvia will play Sweden in the quarterfinal Thursday at noon ET, while Finland will play Slovakia in a quarterfinal at 5 p.m. ET.

Sweden 4, Czechia 2 -- Herman Traff (New Jersey Devils) scored two power-play goals as Sweden (4-0-0-0) finished first in Group B at TD Place.

Felix Unger Sorum (Carolina Hurricanes) and Anton Wahlberg (Buffalo Sabres) also scored for Sweden, which will play Latvia in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Melker Thelin (Utah Hockey Club) made 28 saves.

"We played like we want to play," Sweden defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka (Detroit Red Wings) said. "We held our structure, played quick from the back end, and got some shots on net. It was a good second period."

Petr Sikora (Washington Capitals) and Eduard Sale (Seattle Kraken) scored for Czechia (3-0-0-1), which finished second in the group and will play the third-place finisher from Group A. Michael Hrabal (Utah Hockey Club) made 37 saves.

"It's tough after this game to say something, because we had so many penalties," Sale said. "They are a great team, and they have a great power play. So we had, like, seven PK [situations], so it was too much in this game."

Traff, who turned 19 on Tuesday, made it 1-0 on the man-advantage at 1:52 of the second period. Theo Lindstein (St. Louis Blues) had his shot blocked, but the puck bounced to Traff, who scored from the high slot.

Sweden went ahead 2-0 at 7:18 when Traff scored a power-play goal off the rebound of a shot by Otto Stenberg (St. Louis Blues).

"The birthday boy, Herman ... incredible game for him," Sandin-Pellikka said. "So extra happy for him."

Sikora scored a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right face-off circle to make it 2-1 at 11:57.

Sweden pushed the lead to 4-1 with goals 30 seconds apart by Unger Sorum and Wahlberg.

Unger Sorum's shot from the right circle went off the stick of Czechia defenseman Jakub Dvorak (Los Angeles Kings) and over Hrabal's glove at 18:17, and then Wahlberg scored from in front at 18:47.

Sale was slashed by Sandin-Pellikka (Detroit Red Wings) on a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot 34 seconds into the third period. Sale, Czechia's captain, skated in on Thelin, deked, and lifted a backhand over the goalie's left pad to make it 4-2.