photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Domen Jančič
Bled, SLOVENIA – Two powerplay goals in 44 seconds stood as the difference as Denmark beat Austria 5-4 on Sunday in a thrilling, back-and-forth final of the 2025 IIHF U20 World Championship Division 1 Group A.
Denmark needed a regulation win to earn a spot at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship and it did just that, thanks to two goals coming at the latter stage of a five-minute man advantage. First, Anton Linde finished a pretty tic-tac-toe play when he snapped a shot from the slot into the Austrian net at 51:11 to break a 3-3 tie.
Then, Oliver Larsen scooped up the puck off the half-wall, walked in from the right side and wired a wrist shot far post in to make it 5-3 Denmark. Hjalte Thomsen earned his fourth assist of the game on the powerplay goal.
The Austrians made things interested when Johanne Neumann scored with just under five minutes to play but they couldn’t complete the third-period comeback despite pulling their goalie for the extra attacker.
Austria had a last-gap attempt with the seconds ticking down but the Danes blocked a shot to earn the win, with players tossing their gloves in the air and the bench erupting in celebration.
Denmark will play in the top division of the World Juniors for the first time since 2019, which capped five straight trips to the high-profile event.
The Danes took a 1-0 lead 4:32 into the first as they zipped the puck around quickly on the powerplay.
Thomsen passed the puck down low to Albert Schioldan, who had a look and then made a cross-seam pass to Oscar Moelgaard, who one-timed the puck past Austrian goaltender Benedikt Oschgan.
The Austrians tied the game 1-1 on a nice rush by Ian Scherzer, who took a stretch pass from Alexander Rebernig, entered the Denmark zone, and snapped a hard low shot past Kristers Steinbergs on his glove side.
Denmark, though, would take a two-goal lead into the first intermission on goals by Anton Linde and Phillip Rubin. Thomsen assisted on all three Danish first-period goals.
Austria wouldn’t go away. Early in the second, Scherzer fed a streaking Florian Lanzinger for a tap-in goal and 2:02 into the third, Adrian Gesson jammed in the puck on a goal-mouth scramble to tie the game.
Austria entered Sunday’s final with four regulation wins in the round-robin tournament, while Denmark had three wins and an overtime loss. Despite the strong performance, Austria has to settle for the silver medal and will attempt to win next year’s U20 Division 1 Group A championship to get back to the main world juniors event.
Denmark needed a regulation win to earn a spot at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship and it did just that, thanks to two goals coming at the latter stage of a five-minute man advantage. First, Anton Linde finished a pretty tic-tac-toe play when he snapped a shot from the slot into the Austrian net at 51:11 to break a 3-3 tie.
Then, Oliver Larsen scooped up the puck off the half-wall, walked in from the right side and wired a wrist shot far post in to make it 5-3 Denmark. Hjalte Thomsen earned his fourth assist of the game on the powerplay goal.
The Austrians made things interested when Johanne Neumann scored with just under five minutes to play but they couldn’t complete the third-period comeback despite pulling their goalie for the extra attacker.
Austria had a last-gap attempt with the seconds ticking down but the Danes blocked a shot to earn the win, with players tossing their gloves in the air and the bench erupting in celebration.
Denmark will play in the top division of the World Juniors for the first time since 2019, which capped five straight trips to the high-profile event.
The Danes took a 1-0 lead 4:32 into the first as they zipped the puck around quickly on the powerplay.
Thomsen passed the puck down low to Albert Schioldan, who had a look and then made a cross-seam pass to Oscar Moelgaard, who one-timed the puck past Austrian goaltender Benedikt Oschgan.
The Austrians tied the game 1-1 on a nice rush by Ian Scherzer, who took a stretch pass from Alexander Rebernig, entered the Denmark zone, and snapped a hard low shot past Kristers Steinbergs on his glove side.
Denmark, though, would take a two-goal lead into the first intermission on goals by Anton Linde and Phillip Rubin. Thomsen assisted on all three Danish first-period goals.
Austria wouldn’t go away. Early in the second, Scherzer fed a streaking Florian Lanzinger for a tap-in goal and 2:02 into the third, Adrian Gesson jammed in the puck on a goal-mouth scramble to tie the game.
Austria entered Sunday’s final with four regulation wins in the round-robin tournament, while Denmark had three wins and an overtime loss. Despite the strong performance, Austria has to settle for the silver medal and will attempt to win next year’s U20 Division 1 Group A championship to get back to the main world juniors event.
Third place finish
Norway, picked by some as the tournament favourite heading in, had to settle for third place following a final-day 4-1 win over France.Antonin Fine scored on the powerplay to give France a 1-0 lead in the first but Norway took over in the second on two goals just over a minute apart from Andrea Pettersen and Elias Vatne.
Michael Nygard-Brandsegg added an insurance goal in the third for the Norwegians and Felix Granath added an empty-netter in the final minute.
French goaltender Martin Neckar was the story in a losing cause, as he faced 42 shots, including 23 in the second period alone.