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World Juniors Day 1 Recap: Perreault, Hagens propel Team USA to victory
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Photo credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Gould
Dec 26, 2024, 23:10 ESTUpdated: Dec 26, 2024, 23:00 EST
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Team Canada may have won its first game of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship against Team Finland on Thursday night, but it was Team USA’s commanding victory over Team Germany that generated considerably more buzz.
Led by the powerhouse top line of Gabe Perreault (NYR), Ryan Leonard (WSH), and James Hagens (2025), the Americans cruised to a 10-4 win over the Germans on Boxing Day at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario.
Team USA fired 56 shots on goal over the course of the afternoon beatdown, taking the lead at the 8:07 mark of the first period and never relinquishing it. Hagens, a leading contender to be picked first overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, scored a pair of goals and finished with four points in his World Junior debut.
Perreault, the son of long-time NHLer Yanic and the older brother of Edmonton Oilers minor-leaguer Jacob, scored two goals of his own and looked extremely comfortable on the top line. If Team USA ends up winning gold in Ottawa, there’s a pretty good chance Perreault will be named tournament MVP.
The Germans gave Team USA a brief scare in the second period, rallying quickly after Trevor Connelly (VGK) made it 3-0 to score two quick goals and get back within one. But Hagens and Perreault scored again in the back half of the middle frame, with Brandon Svoboda (SJ) adding one of his own to make it 6-2 by the second intermission.
Brodie Ziemer (BUF) tacked on two more goals in the third period on top of markers by Carey Terrance (ANA) and Cole Eiserman (NYI), more than making up for Team Germany doubling their total to four in the final 20 minutes. Julius Sumpf (und.), David Lewandowski (2025), Lenny Boos (2025), and Timo Ruckdaschel (und.) managed to beat Team USA goaltender Trey Augustine (DET) on Thursday, with those four goals coming on 22 shots.
It’s going to be difficult for any team — even Canada — to match Team USA’s raw star-power, especially with Hagens, Perreault, and Leonard all clicking on the top line. Even the likes of Eiserman, Connelly, and Oliver Moore (CHI) would be right at the top of the lineup on pretty much any other team in this tournament. If Augustine can patch up some of his leaks, the Americans will be tough for anyone to beat.

Best of the rest

  • Matthew Schaefer (2025) was nothing short of outstanding as Team Canada defeated the Finns by a 4-0 score in the Boxing Day nightcap at the CTC, logging 19:48 of ice time and scoring an 180-foot empty-net goal late in the third period. Schaefer might be the only player capable of giving Hagens a run for his money as the top draft-eligible prospect at the tournament. And then there’s Gavin McKenna (2026), who is virtually guaranteed to be the No. 1 pick — not this coming year, but the one after that. McKenna is following in the footsteps of Connor Bedard, Connor McDavid, John Tavares, and Sidney Crosby as a 16-year-old playing a major role for the Canadians. He scored the opening (and game-winning) goal against Team Finland on Thursday.
  • Team Sweden captain Axel Sandin Pellikka (DET), who was picked one spot after Sam Honzek in the 2023 NHL Draft, recorded a natural hat trick and added an assist as his team toppled Team Slovakia 5-2 in the tournament’s opening game. There will always be questions about how effectively ASP will be able to make the jump to the NHL level, particularly as a 5’10” offensive defender, but he clearly doesn’t lack skill. By the way, Axel Hurtig (CGY) finished the game with 12:37 of ice time (sixth-most of Sweden’s seven rearguards) and zeroes across the rest of his stat line — not the worst outcome for a defensive player.
  • There weren’t any bad games on Day 1 of the World Juniors, but the undercard match was probably Team Czechia against Team Switzerland. The standouts were largely as expected: Eduard Sale (SEA), Miroslav Holinka (TOR), and Michael Hrabal (UTA) all made major impacts for the Czechs, while Leon Muggli (WSH) logged a ton of minutes for Team Switzerland. Hrabal, an Arizona draft pick-turned-Utah prospect, stopped 25 of 26 shots to help Team Czechia start out on the right foot.

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