It was the busiest day of the tournament at the 2026 World Junior Championships. With the relegation game kicking off the schedule, followed by all four quarterfinal matchups, there was no shortage of high-stakes hockey to ring in the new year. Here’s how it all unfolded.

Both winless teams entered the relegation game with one final chance to secure their place in next year’s tournament. The loser would be dropped to the lower division.

Germany struggled throughout the tournament to generate much offence. While they were not among the strongest teams in the field, they were also placed in a difficult group. Facing the possibility of relegation for the first time since 2015, their offence finally showed up when it mattered most.

Germany opened the scoring with two goals in the first period. Denmark refused to go quietly, however, pushing back and getting one goal back before the intermission to trail by just one after 20 minutes.

Early in the second period, Germany scored twice more, threatening to pull away. Denmark responded quickly with two goals of its own to once again cut the deficit to one. The remainder of the period was scoreless, leaving Germany clinging to a one-goal lead with its tournament life on the line.

Germany made sure there would be no comeback in the third. Two goals in the first half of the period extended the lead to three. Denmark answered to pull within two and briefly spark hope, but that momentum was short-lived. Germany responded just over a minute later to restore the three-goal cushion. An empty-net goal sealed the result, sending Denmark down and keeping Germany in the tournament for another year.

Norway has earned the opportunity to replace Denmark at next year’s tournament, returning to the top division after a two-year absence.

In the first quarterfinal of the day, Sweden wasted no time getting started. It took just 10 seconds for Anton Frondell to open the scoring and give Sweden an early lead. A mid-period power play gave Latvia an opportunity to respond, and they capitalized as Kristens Ansons tied the game at one.

The tie didn’t last long. Swedish captain Jack Berglund jumped on a loose puck to restore Sweden’s lead before the end of the period.

Latvia settled into its familiar defensive posture for much of the game, spending long stretches in its own zone. Sweden continued to apply pressure and broke through twice in the second period. One goal came on a slap shot from the point that found an open net, with the Latvian goaltender never seeing the puck, extending Sweden’s lead to 4-1.

While Latvia generated only a handful of shots, several were quality chances, though they were unable to beat the Swedish netminder in the second period.

Frondell again struck early to begin the third, taking a pass from Viggo Bjorck on the rush and picking the short side to make it 5-1. Latvia answered shortly afterwards to cut the deficit back to three, but there was no time to amount any kind of comeback. The teams would each trade a goal in the final few minutes of the game, but it would be Sweden who advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3 victory.

In the second quarterfinal of the day, the opening period was tightly contested. Czechia took the game’s first penalty early, but Switzerland was unable to convert on the power play despite sustained pressure. Just after the Czech player stepped out of the box, Swiss defenceman Leon Muggli was able to put one home and open the scoring.

Czechia tilted the ice in the second period. Tomas Galvas scored the equalizer, picking up his eighth point of the tournament to tie for the overall lead. Czechia then took another penalty, and Switzerland capitalized on the man advantage to regain the lead.

Despite falling behind again, Czechia continued to generate chances, and it felt like only a matter of time before the momentum swung. That shift came quickly, as Czechia scored twice in a span of 44 seconds to tie the game and then take the lead. They added another goal before the intermission to carry a 4-2 advantage into the third.

Czechia maintained the pressure in the final period, finding answers against an otherwise defensively sound Swiss team. Jiří Klíma scored midway through the third to earn his third point of the game and extend the lead to three. A late power-play goal put the result beyond doubt, as Czechia closed out a 6-2 win.

With the victory, Czechia advanced to the semifinals, while Switzerland’s tournament came to an end.

In what was arguably the toughest quarterfinal match-up of the tournament, a rematch of last year’s final delivered on every level.

Neither team found the back of the net in the opening period. The United States held a 12-6 edge in shots, and while both sides generated quality scoring chances, the goaltenders were sharp early to keep the game scoreless.

The Americans broke through in storybook fashion. Playing his first game since being stretchered off the ice and taken to hospital earlier in the tournament, Cole Hutson picked up the puck and wired a shot home to give the United States a 1-0 lead.

Finland pushed back with urgency, generating several strong chances, including one sequence where a broken stick cost them a wide-open net shot. Eventually, Heikki Ruohonen found a loose puck in the slot and ripped it top corner to tie the game at one.

Not long after, Finland took a bench minor for too many men, sending the dangerous American power play to work. Hutson once again made his presence felt, patiently skating toward the goal line before feathering a pass across the ice to Cole Eiserman, who beat the Finnish goaltender short side to restore the U.S. lead. The Americans had another late power play but failed to add on, taking a 2-1 advantage into the third.

Finnish goaltender Petteri Rimpinen — last year’s most outstanding goalie — was outstanding again in the final frame, making several key saves to keep the deficit at one. That resilience paid off. With just under eight minutes remaining, Leo Tuuva redirected a puck into the net to tie the game.

Finland wasn’t finished. Less than a minute later, Tuuva collected the puck behind the American net and delivered a remarkable backhand pass into the slot, where Joona Saarelainen buried it to give Finland the lead and stun the home crowd.

The Americans pressed hard in the final minutes. Finland took advantage of their aggressiveness and nearly extended its lead on a two-on-one rush, but U.S. goaltender Nick Kempf came up with a critical save. Moments later, the play swung back the other way, and with under two minutes remaining, a pass from James Hagens found Ryker Lee alone in the slot. Lee snapped the puck home to tie the game and ignite the arena.

Overtime followed, but Finland didn’t need long. Just over two minutes into the extra frame, Arttu Väliä took a feed from Matias Vanhanen and roofed the winner to complete the comeback and eliminate the United States.

No matter who would lose this game, you knew it would be far too early of an exit for either of these teams. But this loss will hurt extra for the Americans as they fail to medal on home soil and lose the opportunity to try for a three-peat. There will be a new goal medallist this year.

Finland heads to the semifinals riding high after what could be considered the first major upset of the tournament.

Canada arrived with a clear mission in this quarterfinal and they executed it almost flawlessly.

Determined to advance past the quarterfinals for the first time in two years, Canada cruised past Slovakia in dominant fashion, fuelled by 14 players recording at least one point in a 7-1 victory.

The game was effectively decided in a five-goal opening period. Flames prospect Cole Reschny opened the scoring after first setting up Carter Verhoeff for a shot. The Slovak goaltender made the initial save, but Reschny jumped on the rebound and buried it.

Tij Iginla doubled the lead moments later, snapping a wrist shot mid-deke with the kind of power and finish reminiscent of his father, Jerome.

Zayne Parekh continued his record-setting tournament with a give-and-go sequence alongside Michael Misa. Misa finished the play to make it 3-0, giving Parekh his first assist of the night and chasing Slovakia’s starting goaltender from the game.

Any hopes of settling things down with a goalie change were short-lived. Canada added two more goals before the end of the period, with Sam O’Reilly and Brady Martin finding the back of the net to put the game well out of reach after 20 minutes.

Canada carried the same pace into the second period. Midway through the frame, goals from Porter Martone and Cole Beaudoin — scored 1:10 apart — extended the lead to 7-0. Parekh picked up his second assist of the game on Beaudoin’s goal. This assist was also Parekh’s 10th point of the tournament putting him alone at the top of the scoring race.

Slovakia finally broke through late in the second, but that would be its lone highlight. The period ended with some rough play, including a knee-on-knee hit that caught Reschny late. He remained in the game and was not injured.

The third period was much quieter compared to the first two periods. Canada played a quarter of the period on the penalty kill, including a double-minor high-sticking penalty to Parekh, but the penalty unit was sharp and Slovakia failed to generate any more goals.

The result was never in doubt, as Canada closed out the 7-1 win to book a semifinal match against Czechia. The victory puts Canada one step closer to returning to the gold medal game. Stakes will but extra high though as Czechia has eliminated Canada two years in a row so the Boxing Day rematch will be some must watch hockey.

Cole Reschny hasn’t got the recognition he probably deserves in this tournament. The first game may not have been his best and he hasn’t collected points like some of his teammates but his 200ft game has been elite. He was rewarded with a goal for his efforts today and his face-off work deserves yet another shout-out. He led all Canadian centres by a wide margin in face-offs taken at he took 16 draws and won 12 of them. Flames GM Craig Conroy was in the stands for this game and I’m sure he loved seeing this from his most recent top draft pick.

Oh Zayne. Great with media and even better on the ice. With two more assists against Slovakia, he now sits alone at the top of the tournament scoring race with ten points overall. Sure he had six penalty minutes this game. The two for unsportsmanlike is something he’d probably want back but the high-sticking double minor just happens sometimes. Still an unbelievable stretch of hockey he has put together with two more games to go. You know his mind is focused on that gold medal but if he continues to play at this pace, he should hear his name in tournament MVP conversations and perhaps he could see his name in the record books for years to come.

All semifinalists get Saturday off before action resumes on Sunday.

🇸🇪 Sweden vs. Finland 🇫🇮 — 2:30 p.m. MST

🇨🇦 Canada vs. Czechia 🇨🇿 — 6:30 p.m. MST