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World Juniors Day 4 Recap: Bonk nets winner as Canada narrowly beats Germany
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Photo credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Gould
Dec 29, 2024, 23:50 EST
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They may have won, but Team Canada didn’t exactly live up to their billing as tournament favourites on Sunday as they narrowly defeated Team Germany by a 3-0 score at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Oliver Bonk (PHI) scored the game-winning goal on the power play at the 9:40 mark of the first period, with Berkly Catton (SEA) and Easton Cowan registering the assists (TOR), but the Canadians didn’t strike again until the final five minutes of regulation time. They beat German goaltender Nico Pertuch (und.) just twice on 33 shots before Mathieu Cataford (VGK) tacked on an empty-netter with three seconds remaining.
Caden Price (SEA) also tallied for Team Canada, which improved to 2-0-1-0 with the victory. Carter George (LA) stopped all 25 shots he faced in the win to help his team move into a tie with Team USA for the top spot in Group A.
Playing in the same building his father, Radek, called home during his tenure with the Ottawa Senators, Bonk set up shop in the bumper position on Canada’s first power play midway through the opening frame and whistled a one-timer past Pertuch to make it a 1-0 game.
But Team Canada didn’t do much to silence those most critical of its roster construction in the second period, which saw them fail to score on any of their 10 shots (compared to nine for Germany). Was there really no room for Beckett Sennecke (ANA), Carter Yakemchuk (OTT), Andrew Cristall (WSH), Michael Misa (2025), or Zayne Parekh (CGY) on this team?
It looked like the Canadians might be on track for a repeat of their shocking loss to Team Latvia when they entered the third period still up by just one, but they started to pick up the pace in the final 20 minutes, winning the shots battle 17-7. It was Sawyer Mynio (VAN), activated after the Latvia game to replace the injured Matthew Schaefer (2025), who set up Price for his insurance goal with 4:58 left in regulation.
In goal, George remains perfect with 56 saves on 56 shots through two games against the Germans and Finns. He was named Team Canada’s player of the game on Sunday and also recorded an assist on Cataford’s empty-net goal.
After scoring just five goals in total against Germany and Latvia, the Canadians will need to get with the program in a big way as they prepare to take on Team USA on New Years’ Eve — but, then again, the Americans are coming off a disappointing loss of their own …

Best of the rest

  • By most conventional wisdom, this iteration of Team Finland is weaker than most previous ones. Naturally, that means they were able to beat Team USA on Sunday! … No, really. After falling behind 2-1 early in the second period, the Finns managed to outshoot the Americans by a considerable margin over the final 40 minutes and ended up winning in overtime by a 4-3 final score. Jesse Kiiskinen (DET) and Julius Miettinen (SEA) tallied in the second period to give the Finns their first lead before Tuomas Uronen (VGK) netted the OT winner; Trey Augustine (DET) made 40 saves on 44 shots for the Americans.
  • Sunday’s best game from a pure entertainment value standpoint might’ve been Team Sweden’s 7-5 win over Team Switzerland. Tom Willander (VAN) and Axel Sandin Pellikka (DET) both recorded three points from the blue line for the Swedes, with both chipping in assists as Victor Eklund (2025) netted the winning goal late in the second period. At the other end, Lethbridge Hurricanes forward Leo Braillard (und.) scored a pair of goals and defenceman Leon Muggli (WSH) racked up three assists in the losing effort. The Swedes are now a perfect 3-0-0-0 through three games.
  • The Czechs and Slovaks always put on a good show against each other at the World Juniors and Sunday’s matchup was no different, featuring multiple significant momentum swings and strong performances from most of the big names involved. For the Czechs, it was Eduard Sale (SEA) who led the way with a pair of goals; at the other end, it was Dalibor Dvorsky (STL) who tallied a big goal late in the third period on a 6-on-4 advantage to bring the Slovaks back within two. Ultimately, it was Team Czechia which prevailed over Team Slovakia by a 4-2 score, improving to 3-0-0-0 in the process (good for a tie with the Swedes at the top of Group B).

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