World Juniors Day 5: Saturday only had two games on the slate

The World Junior Championships are now five days old. There have been a ton of very compelling matchups so far in this tournament. 

Saturday was one of those days where there were only two games. Two games took place between teams that are not necessarily considered to be “hockey powers”. 

Switzerland vs Norway

Switzerland started the tournament with two losses as did Norway. One of these two teams was going to be getting their first win and one of them was going to continue being winless. 

Being winless puts you in danger of being relegated so this game had some high stakes. Nobody wants to go through that.

Out of the two, Switzerland is significantly closer to becoming a top hockey country and it showed in this game. They won the game 6-2 and made it clear that they don’t plan on going anywhere. 

Norway is now 0-4 and won’t be getting a win. As for Switzerland, they have one more game against Czechia. That is going to be a very tough battle for them but they are hoping to just have a good showing. 

Latvia vs Germany

This game did not go how anyone thought it would. Latvia beat Germany 6-2 who earned a big win earlier in the tournament vs Finland. 

The Germans have been very good lately but they dropped this one and it wasn’t close on the end. Latvia deserves credit for the way they played in this one. Expecting the Germans to win is fair because of the recent past but Latvia showed the world that they belong.

Now, the Latvians are 1-3 and done with the round-robin portion of the schedule. As for Germany, they have to play Canada who is going to be angry coming off a loss to Sweden. Germany is in trouble following this loss. 

The round-robin portion of the schedule only has one more day. It is a full day of games though and it is loaded with storylines. Team USA and Slovakia are both looking to go undefeated while Finland and Sweden will renew their rivalry. It should be must-see TV.