Latvia advances to quarters, Germany eliminated in wild finish

A preliminary-round matchup between Germany and Latvia provided a lot more drama than expected at the 2025 World Junior Championship on Monday.

Latvia's Eriks Mateiko squashed Germany's knockout-stage hopes when he netted the overtime game-winner - even though his team had already qualified for the quarterfinals just by getting to the extra frame. The Germans needed to win in regulation to secure a berth in the knockout stage, while all Latvia needed was a point to do the same.

Those circumstances made for a frenetic finish in regulation.

Germany went up 2-0 on a goal by Edwin Tropmann in the second period. However, Latvia rallied to tie it as Mateiko notched his first goal of the game just over 30 seconds later and Bruno Osmanis evened up the contest early in the third period.

The Germans then took a major gamble: Knowing they needed to win in regulation, they pulled goaltender Linus Vieillard for the extra attacker to go for the win. However, Latvia took advantage of that - Olivers Murnieks flipped the puck down the ice and into the empty net with under three minutes left.

Germany wasn't done yet, though. David Lewandowski knotted things up again in short order.

However, the Germans were unable to score again before the buzzer sounded to end the third period, ending their quarterfinal hopes and sending them off to the relegation round.

Mateiko then punctuated what was already a celebratory occasion for Latvia with the overtime winner.

Latvia pulled off a shocking upset earlier in the preliminary round, defeating Canada in a shootout Friday after overcoming a pair of third-period deficits.

The Latvians reached the quarters for the third time ever, with all three berths coming in the last four tournaments. They made it in 2022 but lost 2-1 to Sweden, then got there in 2024 but fell 7-2 to the United States.

Germany will play in the relegation round for the second straight tournament. The Germans ended up in that stage this past January but held on to defeat Norway 5-4 in overtime.

Kazakhstan will be Germany's opponent this time around. The Kazakhstanis lost 3-1 to Switzerland on Tuesday.