The Preliminary Round is officially over at the 2025 IIHF World Championship as eight nations say goodbye to Stockholm and Herning, while the other eight prepare for their chance at taking home the gold medal on Sunday.
Two of Tuesday’s games had massive implications for the Playoff Round as Austria and Latvia battled for the final Quarterfinal spot in Group A, while in Group B, Denmark and Germany needed a shootout to see who would take the fourth spot.
Latvia (1) vs Austria (6) F
Latvia and Austria came into Tuesday’s tilt with a massive opportunity on the line – an appearance in the quarterfinals at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. The Latvians have made it to the quarterfinals in three of the last six World Championships, winning a historic bronze medal in 2023. As for Austria, they haven’t made it to the quarterfinals at the World Championship since 1994 where they faced Finland in Milan, losing by a score of 10-0.
Austria came into this game highly motivated to make it back to the playoff round for the first time in 31 years and with the new guard, featuring players such Marco Kasper and Vinzenz Rohrer, ready to take over the program, today was a good day to show the world what the future of Austrian hockey will look like.
The Austrians got the scoring started in this one, with Dominic Zwerger’s second of the tournament giving them a 1-0 lead in the opening frame. Austria would then rattle off two more thanks to Benjamin Baumgartner and Montreal Canadiens prospect Vinzenz Rohrer, before the Latvians got on the board courtesy of Eduards Tralmaks, who picked up his third of the World Championship.
Latvia did all they could to remain in this game and get back to the quarterfinals for the second time in three years, but the Austrians added three more in the third period including Zwerger and Rohrer’s second of the contest to take this one by a score of 6-1. Austrian netminder David Kickert made 28 saves on 29 shots today and undoubtedly has earned his spot between the pipes in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Scoring Summary:
Latvia
- Eduards Tralmaks (3). Assists: Dans Locmelis (2), Anri Ravinskis (1).
Austria
- Dominic Zwerger (2). Assist: Lucas Thaler (1).
- Benjamin Baumgartner (2). Assists: Marco Kasper (2), Dominique Heinrich (1).
- Vinzenz Rohrer (3).
- Thomas Raffl (1). Assist: Peter Schneider (3).
- Dominic Zwerger (3). Assists: Peter Schneider (4), Marco Kasper (3).
- Vinzenz Rohrer (4).
Switzerland (4) vs Kazakhstan (1) F
The task was simple for Kazakhstan on Tuesday. If they picked up at least a point in their game against Switzerland, they would remain in the top division in 2026 and if they were to lose in regulation, they’d be on their way to the Division 1A tournament for the first time since 2019.
Kazakhstan had a great start to today’s game, as has been the case with the first period in each of their last thee contest including against the Swiss. Arkadiy Shestakov scored with less than five minutes remaining in the opening frame to give Kazakhstan a 1-0 lead heading to the dressing room.
The Kazakhs would hold onto that lead for the first 9:55 of the second period before Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala picked up his second of the tournament on the power play to tie the game at 1-1. After 40 minutes, the game was knotted up at 1-1 and all the Kazakhs needed to do was hold on defensively to force overtime in order to remain in the top division next year. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t withstand the pressure from Switzerland in the third period.
Switzerland fired 16 shots on Kazakh netminder Maxim Pavlenko in the third period, with three of them finding the back of the net including Sven Andrighetto’s seventh of the tournament. Meanwhile, 41-year-old Andres Ambuhl scored his fourth of the tournament, two days after becoming the oldest player in IIHF World Championship history to record a hat trick. Damien Riat sealed the deal for Switzerland with his fifth of this year’s World Championship, giving his nation a 4-1 win.
With the loss, Kazakhstan will head back to Division 1A for the first time in six years, which means Hungary will remain in the top division for back-to-back years for the first time in the 1930s, when there was just one division at the tournament.
Scoring Summary:
Switzerland
- Kevin Fiala (2). Assists: Denis Malgin (8), Dean Kukan (6).
- Sven Andrighetto (7). Assists: Denis Malgin (9), Janis Moser (4).
- Andres Ambuhl (4). Assists: Nino Niederreiter (1), Kevin Fiala (5).
- Damien Riat (5). Assists: Simon Knak (3), Michael Fora (5).
Kazakhstan
- Arkadiy Shestakov (1). Assists: Adil Beketayev (1), Nikita Mikhailis (2).
Slovakia (1) vs Finland (2) F
The second game of the day in Stockholm saw Finland taking on an already eliminated Slovak squad that was playing for pride and looking to finish off their tournament on a positive note.
One day after defeating Canada, the Finns turned to backup netminder Emil Larmi for today’s game with seeding still on the line in Group A and it was Finland who opened the scoring. A little over five minutes into the opening frame, Patrik Puistola scored his third of the tournament to give the Finns a 1-0 lead.
Finland would double their lead in the second period as former Tampa Bay Lightning forward Waltteri Merela scored his first of the World Championship to put his nation up 2-0.
The Slovaks pushed hard in the third period, giving it their all to try and tie the game as they threw 12 shots on Larmi in the final frame, with Robert Lantosi finding the back of the net with a little over six minutes remaining, but that was all they could come up with as Finland took this one by a score of 2-1.
Scoring Summary:
Slovakia
- Robert Lantosi (1). Assists: Pavol Regenda (1), Matus Sukel (1).
Finland
- Patrik Puistola (3). Assists: Vili Saarijarvi (4), Juuso Parssinen (2).
- Waltteri Merela (1). Assists: Jan-Mikael Jarvinen (1), Rasmus Rissanen (1).
Czechia (2) vs United States (5) F
Seeding was on the line in Group B’s second day of the game as David Pastrnak and the Czechs took on his Boston Bruins teammate Jeremy Swayman and the United States. Coming into this one, because of Switzerland’s win over Kazakhstan earlier in the day, Czechia needed a win in regulation or overtime/shootout to clinch top spot, while the United States, with a win in regulation, could only climb as high as second place.
Josh Doan, son of Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes legend Shane Doan, got the scoring started in the first period, giving the United States a big 1-0 lead after 20 minutes before the Czechs bounced back in the second period. David Pastrnak and Martin Necas picked up their sixth and third goals of the tournament, respectively, to give Czechia a 2-1 lead heading to the third period.
The United States blew the game open in the third period, scoring four unanswered goals including a pair from Chicago Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar, Utah Mammoth forward Logan Cooley and Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke to defeat the Czechs 5-2 and clinch second spot in Group B.
Scoring Summary:
Czechia
- David Pastrnak (6). Assist: Roman Cervenka (8).
- Martin Necas (3). Assists: David Pastrnak (8), Lukas Sedlak (5).
United States
- Josh Doan (1). Assists: Andrew Peeke (2), Shane Pinto (5).
- Frank Nazar (5). Assists: Will Smith (5), Zeev Buium (2).
- Frank Nazar (6). Assists: Cutter Gauthier (3), Zeev Buium (3).
- Logan Cooley (4). Assists: Clayton Keller (7), Zach Werenski (3).
- Andrew Peeke (1). Assist: Drew O’Connor (3).
Sweden (3) vs Canada (5) F
Canada and Sweden, two nations who have had a great tournament to this point, but only one could clinch top spot in the group, which will help for seeding for the Semifinals on Saturday.
After losing to Finland on Monday, Canada came into this one ready to quiet the pro-Swedish crowd at Avicii Arena, but would be doing so without Bo Horvat as he’ll miss the remainder of the tournament with a lower-body injury and has been replaced by 2025 projected top-five pick Porter Martone.
18 seconds into the first period, Canadian defenseman Travis Sanheim poked home his first of the tournament past Jacob Markstrom to give his nation a very early 1-0 lead, which did quiet down the crowd, albeit temporarily as the Swedes bounced back and equalized a little over three minutes later thanks to Elias Lindholm. Tyson Foerster and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for Canada in the opening frame and they headed to the dressing room up 3-1.
Three minutes into the second period, Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Johansson cut Canada’s lead to 3-2. Meanwhile, over seven minutes later, Macklin Celebrini scored an incredible goal on a slick feed from Sidney Crosby to restore Canada’s two goal lead, with the Canadians going up 4-2 after 40 minutes.
In the final frame, Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon scored his seventh of the 2025 IIHF World Championship to give Canada a 5-2 lead and despite a late goal from Rasmus Andersson, the Swedes would go on to lose their first game of the tournament to finish second in Group A, setting up a Quarterfinal date with Czechia, who knocked them out of gold medal contention in the semis last year.
As for Canada, they clinched top spot in Group A and were awaiting the winner of the Denmark-Germany game in the Quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon Eastern time.
Scoring Summary:
Sweden
- Elias Lindholm (7).
- Marcus Johansson (2). Assists: Filip Forsberg (3), Lucas Raymond (6).
- Rasmus Andersson (2). Assists: Marcus Johansson (3), Leo Carlsson (4).
Canada
- Travis Sanheim (1). Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (5), Travis Konecny (7).
- Tyson Foerster (2). Assists: Jared Spurgeon (1), Sidney Crosby (6).
- Ryan O’Reilly (2). Assists: Travis Konecny (8), Nathan MacKinnon (6).
- Macklin Celebrini (3). Assists: Sidney Crosby (7), Jared Spurgeon (2).
- Nathan MacKinnon (7). Assists: Travis Konecny (9), Ryker Evans (2).
Germany (1) vs Denmark (2) F/SO
Much like this morning’s game between Austria and Latvia, the winner of Denmark and Germany would clinch the final Quarterfinal spot in Group B and the Danes got a massive boost to the lineup as the nation’s top player right now, Nikolaj Ehlers, arrived in Herning in time for puck drop.
As most were expecting, today’s game was a tight one and remained scoreless until 46 seconds left in the second period as 22-year-old Korbinian Geibel, who is playing in his first IIHF World Championship, gave the Germans a 1-0 lead.
Germany would hold onto that 1-0 lead for ten minutes as exactly halfway through the third period, Nikolaj Ehlers made an immediate impact, off the plane and on the board for his first of the tournament, tying the game up for Denmark. With the score tied at 1-1, the two nations headed to sudden-death, 3-on-3 overtime.
Overtime solved nothing and it came down to a shootout to determine the fourth and final Quarterfinal spot in Group B. Nick Olesen and Joachim Blichfeld scored the only goals of the shootout, while Frederik Dichow, a former Montreal Canadiens prospect, stopped all four shots he faced as Denmark advanced to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2016.
Scoring Summary:
Germany
- Korbinian Geibel (1). Assists: Fabio Wagner (2), Joshua Samanski (3).
Denmark
- Nikolaj Ehlers (1). Assists: Oscar Fisker Molgaard (6), Nick Olesen (6).
Standings After Day 12
Group A
- Canada (7 GP, 6 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 0 L, 35 GF, 7 GA, +28, 19 PTS) – Q
- Sweden (7 GP, 6 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 28 GF, 8 GA, +20, 18 PTS) – Q
- Finland (7 GP, 4 W, 2 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 22 GF, 10 GA, +12, 16 PTS) – Q
- Austria (7 GP, 2 W, 2 OTW, 0 OTL, 3 L, 21 GF, 18 GA, +3, 10 PTS) – Q
- Latvia (7 GP, 3 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 4 L, 17 GF, 25 GA, -8, 9 PTS) – E
- Slovakia (7 GP, 2 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 4 L, 9 GF, 24 GA, -15, 6 PTS) – E
- Slovenia (7 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 5 L, 9 GF, 29 GA, -20, 4 PTS) – E
- France (7 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 6 L, 8 GF, 27 GA, -19, 1 PTS) – R
Group B
- Switzerland (7 GP, 6 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 0 L, 34 GF, 9 GA, +25, 19 PTS) – Q
- United States (7 GP, 5 W, 1 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 34 GF, 14 GA, +10, 17 PTS) – Q
- Czechia (7 GP, 5 W, 1 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 35 GF, 14 GA, +21, 17 PTS) – Q
- Denmark (7 GP, 3 W, 1 OTW, 0 OTL, 3 L, 25 GF, 24 GA, +1, 11 PTS) – Q
- Germany (7 GP, 3 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 3 L, 20 GF, 22 GA, -2, 10 PTS) – E
- Norway (7 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 5 L, 13 GF, 24 GA, -11, 4 PTS) – E
- Hungary (7 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 6 L, 8 GF, 39 GA, -31, 3 PTS) – E
- Kazakhstan (7 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 6 L, 9 GF, 32 GA, -23, 3 PTS) – R
- Q – Qualified for Playoff Round.
- E – Elimination from Playoff Round contention.
- R – Relegated to Division 1A for 2026.
My Three Stars of Day 12
- Dominic Zwerger (Austria) – 2 goals in win vs Latvia.
- Nathan MacKinnon (Canada) – 1 goal, 2 assists in win vs Sweden.
- Frederik Dichow (Denmark) – 25 saves on 26 shots in win vs Germany.
Quarterfinal Schedule (Thursday, May 22nd)
- Switzerland vs Austria (10:20 am ET)
- United States vs Finland (10:20 am ET)
- Sweden vs Czechia (2:20 pm ET)
- Canada vs Denmark (2:20 pm ET)
Photo Credit: DR/IIHF.