Sweden forward Otto Stenberg (25) and teammate Rasmus Bergqvist (2) celebrate Axel Sandin-Pellikka's (4) hat-trick goal during third period IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship preliminary round action against Slovakia, in Ottawa, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
OTTAWA – Defenceman Cole Hutson had five assists as United States opened its defence of its gold medal with a resounding 10-4 win over Germany on Thursday as the 2025 world junior hockey championship got underway.
James Hagens had two goals and two assists while Gabe Perreault and Brodie Ziemer also scored twice for the Americans, who are considered among the favourites in Ottawa.
Trevor Connelly, Brandon Svoboda, Carey Terrance and Cole Eiserman also scored for the Americans.
Julius Sumpf, David Lewandowski, Lenny Boos and Timo Ruckdaschel scored for Germany.
Trey Augustine made 18 saves for the U.S., while a busy Nico Pertuch stopped 46 shots.
Germany next plays Finland on Friday, while the U.S. has a day off before facing Latvia on Saturday.
Earlier, defenceman Axel Sandin Pellikka scored a natural hat trick as Sweden kicked off the tournament with a 5-2 rout of Slovakia.
Sandin Pellikka, a Detroit Red Wings prospect playing in hist third world juniors, added an assist for Sweden, which is looking for its first title since 2012.
Rasmus Bergqvist and Linus Eriksson had the other goals for Sweden.
Dalibor Dvorsky had a goal just under 12 minutes into the game to open the scoring for Slovakia, which was then held without a goal until Daniel Jencko scored on a power play with 85 seconds left in regulation.
Sweden plays Kazakhstan and Slovakia meets Switzerland on Friday.
In other games Thursday, Czechia played Switzerland and host Canada took on Finland.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 26, 2024.
