The U.S.'s James Hagens (#12) heads to the bench with teammates after opening the scoring in a 10-4 opening win over Germany at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa.
photo: PHOTO: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDRE RINGUETTE
On Thursday, the defending champion U.S. hammered Germany 10-4 to kick off the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa. Living up to its advance billing, the top American line dazzled as James Hagens stepped up with two goals and two assists, while Gabe Perreault added two goals and one assist. Blueliner Cole Hutson racked up five assists.
In the Canadian Tire Centre opener, coach David Carle’s Americans got the three points they wanted as they seek to repeat as World Junior gold medalists for the first time in history. However, defensive lapses are something they'll want to clean up.
"We had a lot of turnovers tonight," said U.S. captain Ryan Leonard. "If we clean that up, it's going to lead to more offence for us and less chances for the other teams."
U.S. starting goalie Trey Augustine, playing in his third straight World Juniors, had a lighter workload than his German counterpart Nico Pertuch. Final shots favoured the U.S. 56-22.
This year’s German team looks less gifted on paper than, for example, the 2021 sixth-place team that featured future NHL forwards Tim Stutzle and JJ Peterka. The Germans finished ninth last year after cracking the quarter-finals annually from 2021 to 2023. Putting up four goals against the U.S. can provide some optimism, though.
Hagens opened the scoring at 8:07. The top-rated centre for the 2025 NHL Draft put in a loose puck when Pertuch got turned around in his crease after barely stopping a Hutson backhand attempt. The play was video-reviewed and survived a coach’s challenge from Tobias Abstreiter. The U.S. couldn’t exploit Germany's ensuing delay-of-game penalty, but it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme.
At 11:56, Hagens picked up the puck off a Leonard rebound and fed Perreault at the hash marks. He sniped it over Pertuch’s glove to make it 2-0. Augustine was alert to stymie Nick Maul with a blocker save off the rush with just over two minutes left in the first period.
Leonard gave full credit to Hagens, a World Junior rookie: "He's adjusted perfectly well. You see the point production he's had and the dominance he has there on the ice. He's a generational player."
Just 1:38 into the middle frame, Trevor Connelly converted his own rebound on a nice give-and-go rush play with Cole Eiserman for a 3-0 lead.
At the five-minute mark, German assistant captain Julius Sumf gave his fans something to cheer about with a power play marker that squeezed under Augustine's left arm.
Then things got interesting. Seconds after David Lewandowski finished serving an interference minor, the German forward picked off Paul Fischer's pass up the middle at centre ice, crossed the blue line, and went bar down on Augustine.
Carle challenged the goal as potentially offside due to a German line change inside the blue line, but the call on the ice stood. The Germans couldn't equalize during the U.S.'s delay-of-game penalty, however.
""We just can't cheat the game that much," said Hutson. "It's about taking care of the plays 100 percent in the D zone and then getting to the offensive side after that.""
After a faceoff in the German end, Hagens beat Pertuch stick side to give the U.S. a 4-2 lead and quell the opposition's momentum. With 1:20 left before the siren, Brandon Svoboda shoveled in a rebound to put the game out of reach for Germany. Perreault sniped the 6-2 goal at 19:41.
"When we had people on the inside, really good things happened," said Carle. "Certainly, I think the bench breathed a little bit after getting through the kill and then getting that [Hagens] goal and ending the second period like that."
In the thrid period, Brodie Ziemer had a pair and Carey Terrance and Eiserman added singles to round out the U.S. scoring. Lenny Boos and Timo Ruckdaschel replied for Germany.
Hutson, who led all defenders in scoring at both the 2023 and 2024 U18 Worlds, got kudos after his explosive debut from Carle: "The deception, his ability to attack and put people on pause. He's thinking one, two steps ahead, like we saw that tonight with some of the plays he made. He's so dynamic. A lot of stuff that you can't teach."
This result was not as lopsided as the last U.S.-Germany World Junior encounter, an 11-1 American quarter-final win in 2023.
Germany’s last World Junior win over the U.S. was 2-1 on Marcel Muller’s overtime goal on 26 December, 2006 in Leksand, Sweden. Since then, the Americans have won nine straight games by an aggregate of 66 to 11. The U.S. enjoys an all-time record of 24 wins and four losses against Germany.
Life doesn’t get much easier for Germany, which faces Finland in Friday’s early game at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Americans get a day off before taking on Latvia on Saturday evening.
In the Canadian Tire Centre opener, coach David Carle’s Americans got the three points they wanted as they seek to repeat as World Junior gold medalists for the first time in history. However, defensive lapses are something they'll want to clean up.
"We had a lot of turnovers tonight," said U.S. captain Ryan Leonard. "If we clean that up, it's going to lead to more offence for us and less chances for the other teams."
U.S. starting goalie Trey Augustine, playing in his third straight World Juniors, had a lighter workload than his German counterpart Nico Pertuch. Final shots favoured the U.S. 56-22.
This year’s German team looks less gifted on paper than, for example, the 2021 sixth-place team that featured future NHL forwards Tim Stutzle and JJ Peterka. The Germans finished ninth last year after cracking the quarter-finals annually from 2021 to 2023. Putting up four goals against the U.S. can provide some optimism, though.
Hagens opened the scoring at 8:07. The top-rated centre for the 2025 NHL Draft put in a loose puck when Pertuch got turned around in his crease after barely stopping a Hutson backhand attempt. The play was video-reviewed and survived a coach’s challenge from Tobias Abstreiter. The U.S. couldn’t exploit Germany's ensuing delay-of-game penalty, but it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme.
At 11:56, Hagens picked up the puck off a Leonard rebound and fed Perreault at the hash marks. He sniped it over Pertuch’s glove to make it 2-0. Augustine was alert to stymie Nick Maul with a blocker save off the rush with just over two minutes left in the first period.
Leonard gave full credit to Hagens, a World Junior rookie: "He's adjusted perfectly well. You see the point production he's had and the dominance he has there on the ice. He's a generational player."
Just 1:38 into the middle frame, Trevor Connelly converted his own rebound on a nice give-and-go rush play with Cole Eiserman for a 3-0 lead.
At the five-minute mark, German assistant captain Julius Sumf gave his fans something to cheer about with a power play marker that squeezed under Augustine's left arm.
Then things got interesting. Seconds after David Lewandowski finished serving an interference minor, the German forward picked off Paul Fischer's pass up the middle at centre ice, crossed the blue line, and went bar down on Augustine.
Carle challenged the goal as potentially offside due to a German line change inside the blue line, but the call on the ice stood. The Germans couldn't equalize during the U.S.'s delay-of-game penalty, however.
""We just can't cheat the game that much," said Hutson. "It's about taking care of the plays 100 percent in the D zone and then getting to the offensive side after that.""
After a faceoff in the German end, Hagens beat Pertuch stick side to give the U.S. a 4-2 lead and quell the opposition's momentum. With 1:20 left before the siren, Brandon Svoboda shoveled in a rebound to put the game out of reach for Germany. Perreault sniped the 6-2 goal at 19:41.
"When we had people on the inside, really good things happened," said Carle. "Certainly, I think the bench breathed a little bit after getting through the kill and then getting that [Hagens] goal and ending the second period like that."
In the thrid period, Brodie Ziemer had a pair and Carey Terrance and Eiserman added singles to round out the U.S. scoring. Lenny Boos and Timo Ruckdaschel replied for Germany.
Hutson, who led all defenders in scoring at both the 2023 and 2024 U18 Worlds, got kudos after his explosive debut from Carle: "The deception, his ability to attack and put people on pause. He's thinking one, two steps ahead, like we saw that tonight with some of the plays he made. He's so dynamic. A lot of stuff that you can't teach."
This result was not as lopsided as the last U.S.-Germany World Junior encounter, an 11-1 American quarter-final win in 2023.
Germany’s last World Junior win over the U.S. was 2-1 on Marcel Muller’s overtime goal on 26 December, 2006 in Leksand, Sweden. Since then, the Americans have won nine straight games by an aggregate of 66 to 11. The U.S. enjoys an all-time record of 24 wins and four losses against Germany.
Life doesn’t get much easier for Germany, which faces Finland in Friday’s early game at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Americans get a day off before taking on Latvia on Saturday evening.
United States vs Germany - 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship
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