World Junior Championship roundup: Latvia defeats Germany, advances to quarterfinals

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

Day 5 games:

Latvia 4, Germany 3 (OT) -- Eriks Mateiko (Washington Capitals) scored with 1:37 left in overtime at Canadian Tire Centre to send Latvia into the quarterfinal round.

Mateiko skated down left wing and scored on a snap shot from the slot to give Latvia (0-2-0-1) two wins at World Juniors for the first time in its history. Latvian upset Canada 3-2 in a shootout on Friday.

Olivers Murnieks (2026 draft eligible) had a goal and two assists, Bruno Osmanis (2025 draft eligible), a W rated skater on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary players to watch list, had a goal and an assist, and Linards Feldbergs (2025 draft eligible) made 36 saves for Latvia.

Julius Sumpf (2025 draft eligible), a W rated skater on NHL Central Scouting's players to watch list, had two assists, and Linus Vieillard (2025 draft eligible) made 16 saves for Germany, which will finish last in Group A.

Simon Seidl (2025 draft eligible) gave Germany a 1-0 lead 19 seconds into the first period. Edwin Tropmann (2025 draft eligible) pushed it to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 8:40 of the second period.

Mateiko cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal 32 seconds later at 9:12.

Osmanis pulled Latvia into a 2-2 tie with a snap shot from the high slot on a broken play at 6:55 of the third period.

Germany (0-0-1-3) needed to win the game in regulation to qualify for the quarterfinals and pulled its goaltender during a power-play late in the game.

However, Murnieks, a 16-year-old center, scored a short-handed, empty-net goal, after winning a defensive-zone face-off at 17:16 of the third to give Latvia a 3-2 lead.

David Lewandowski (2025 draft eligible), a C rated skater on Central Scouting's players to watch list, made it 3-3 on a one-timer from the right face-off circle during a 6-on-4 advantage at 17:36.

Latvia will next play in the quarterfinals on Jan. 2.

Slovakia 5, Kazakhstan 4 (OT) -- Maxim Strbak (Buffalo Sabres) scored at 2:55 of overtime for Slovakia, which recovered after giving away a two-goal lead in the third period in a Group B game at TD Place.

Juraj Pekarcik (St. Louis Blues) carried the puck out of the Slovakia zone and his stretch pass sent Strbak in alone, and he beat Vladimir Nikitin (Ottawa Senators) between his pads.

"I saw a bouncing puck and an opportunity to join to rush and luckily it turned into a breakaway," Strbak said. "At that point, I'm not sure what I saw but I know I wanted to go five-hole and it worked out. We shouldn't have gone to overtime. That's on us. We need to do better. At the end of the day we're happy we secured the victory and a spot in the quarterfinals."

Pekarcik and Dalibor Dvorsky (St. Louis Blues) each had two goals and two assists for Slovakia (1-1-0-2), and Strbak also had an assist. Samuel Urban (2025 draft eligible) made 13 saves.

Artur Gross (2025 draft eligible), Assanali Sarkenov (2025 draft eligible), Davlat Nurkenov (2025 draft eligible) and Kirill Lyapunov (2025 draft eligible) scored for Kazakhstan (0-0-1-2). Nikitin made 37 saves.

Dvorsky scored twice in the first period to help Slovakia to a 3-0 lead.

After Gross scored at 2:02 of the second period to make it 3-1, Pekarcik skated through the slot and lifted a backhand over Nikitin to make it 4-1 at 12:36.

Slovakia was leading 4-2 when Sarkenov was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for cross-checking at 15:21 of the third period.

But Slovakia forward Matus Vojtech (2025 draft eligible) turned the puck over at the Kazakhstan blue line, allowing Nurkenov to skate in alone and score a short-handed goal between Urban's pads at 16:37 to make it 4-3.

Then Strbak gave the puck away at the Kazakhstan blue line, with Lyapunov breaking in and scoring short-handed at 19:31 to tie it 4-4.

Kazakhstan will finish the preliminary round against Switzerland on Tuesday (Noon ET). Slovakia will next play in the quarterfinals on Jan. 2.

NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman and senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report