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All six Philadelphia Flyers prospects at the 2025-26 IIHF World Junior Championships in Minnesota saw action in Friday’s opening games.Three of the four matches were high-scoring affairs in which one or both teams scored five or more goals. However, there were no upset outcomes on Day One.
Sweden 3 – Slovakia 2
An Ivar Stenberg tally at 16:03 of the third period provided a narrow victory for the Junior Crowns in the first match of the tournament. The Swedes generated an odd-man counterattack and Steberg finished off a feed from Eddie Genborg. Anton Frondell and Victor Eklund also scored for Sweden. Junior Crowns captain Jack Berglund, a Flyers 2024 second-round pick, assisted on the Eklund power play goal along with Frondell. Thomas Pobezel and Tobias Tomik tallied for the Slovaks.
Finland 6 – Denmark 2
This was the most lopsided result from the four opening games. The Finns led 3-1 at the first intermission and 6-1 after 40 minutes. Meanwhile, shots on goal were 43-10 in the Lions’ favor. Roope Vesterinen notched two goals, while Jasper Kuhta collected three assists. Onni Kalto, Oliver Suvanto, Aatos Koivu and Joonas Saarelainen also scored for Finland. Flyers prospects Heikki Ruohonen and Max Westergard chipped in an assist apiece. Westergard made a nice set up pass to Kalto off the rush for the second Finnish goal. Lafter, Ruohonen had the secondary assist on the Koivu tally.
USA 6 – Germany 3
Team USA took a 3-1 lead to the first intermission and 6-3 edge after two periods. The third period was scoreless, Will Zellers, the final pre-tourney addition to the American roster, led all players with a three-point performance (two goals, one assist). Max Plante, defenseman Chase Reid, Will Horcoff, and Cole Eiserman also scored for the Americans. Flyers 2025 second-round pick Shane Vansaghi served as the 13th forward for Team. He skated eight shifts for the game (5:01 TOI) and was minus-one on the day. Vansaghi had one notable scoring chance.
Canada 7 – Czechia 5
This was the wildest game of Day One. The Canadian side led 2-1 at the first intermission. However, the Czechs took a 3-2 lead in the middle stanza before Canada squared the match. Later, in the third period, the teams combined for six goals (Canada 4 – Czechs 2) Calgary Flames defenseman Zayne Parekh led the way with two goals for Canada. Brady Martin (1g, 1a), Michael Hage (1g, 2a), Tij Iginla (1g), and Ethan MacKenzie also scored for the winning team. Finally, Flyers 2025 first-round pick Porter Martone iced the win with an empty-net goal with one minute left in regulation. Martone then received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting the Czechs. Flyers 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko (minus-three) had a tough evening. Tomas Poletin (2g), Vojtech Cihar (1g, 2a) and Tomas Galvas (1g, 1a) led the Czech team offensively.
WJC: Day 2 Preview
There are four games on tap on Saturday for Day Two of the 2025-26 World Junior Championships. Two of the games involve Flyers prospects:
- Slovakia vs. Germany: The Slovaks gave Sweden and a very competitive game on Friday.
- Canada vs. Latvia: Luchanko has a great opportunity for a redemption game in a potential blowout matchup. Martone and the rest of Team Canada hardly breezed past Czechia. Day One and the medal round quarterfinals are often the most upset-ripe matches of the tourney. We will see about Day Two.
- USA vs. Switzerland: When the Swiss keep the score low, they’re sometimes a handful for the higher-profile opponents. While this is more often the case at the men’s level than the junior ranks, two-time defending gold medalist Team USA can ill-afford to look past this game.
- Czechia vs. Denmark: The Danes are the underdog in most matches. Their key game is on Dec. 30 against Latvia.
