Veit Oswald scored twice, including the eventual winner, as Germany held off Finland for a 4-3 upset on Wednesday at the men's world junior hockey championship. Oswald celebrates after scoring during the IIHF World Junior Championship group A ice hockey match between Finland and Germany at Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-TT News Agency, Bjorn Larsson Rosvall
GOTHENBURG, Sweden – Veit Oswald scored twice, including the eventual winner, as Germany held off Finland for a 4-3 upset on Wednesday at the world junior hockey championship.
Oswald broke in on the net alone after Finnish defenceman Jesse Pulkkinen lost his edge on the ice and fell.
The German forward then snapped the puck past goalie Niklas Kokko with 5:22 left in the second period.
Roman Kechter and Niklas Hubner also scored and Philipp Dietl made 40 saves for Germany (1-0), which beat Finland for the first time at the world junior championship.
Finland had a 25-0 record with a 141-31 goal differential against the Germans dating back to the inaugural championship in 1977.
Tommi Mannisto, Kasper Halttunen and Samu Bau replied for Finland (0-2). Kokko stopped 24 shots in net.
The Finns outshot Germany 17-5 in the third period as they tried to tie the game.
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SLOVAKIA 3 SWITZERLAND 0
Adam Gajan stopped all 36 shots he faced as Slovakia blanked Switzerland.
Samuel Honzek staked Slovakia (2-0) to a 1-0 lead before Peter Repcik and Servac Petrovsky added empty-net goals in the last two minutes of play.
Allessio Beglieri stopped 17-of-18 shots for Switzerland (0-1).
Czechia faced Norway and Canada took on Latvia later Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2023.
