In the quarter-finals, Finland will face Slovakia, familiar from last year.
The U-20 Men’s Ice Hockey World Championship will be held in Ottawa, Canada from December 26, 2024 to January 5, 2025.
Nuoret Leijonat will face Slovakia in the quarterfinals of the Under-20 Ice Hockey World Championship.
The opponent was decided on New Year’s morning, when the United States defeated Canada 4–1 in the final match of the first group. The United States won Finland’s group and will play against Switzerland in the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals begin on January 2. Finland meets Slovakia at night Finnish time.
Slovakia is already a familiar opponent for Finland from last year’s quarterfinals. Then the thriller was only solved in overtime in favor of Finland with goals 4–3.
This year, Slovakia has not yet shown the same willingness to surprise. The team had difficulties in the final match of the first group against Kazakhstan, and the game was decided for Slovakia only in extra time with goals 5–4.
Slovakia also narrowly beat Switzerland 2–1, but lost to Sweden 2–5 and the Czech Republic 2–4.
Finland, on the other hand, collected eight points from the first group. The full point pool was accumulated from the regular time victories against Latvia and Germany. The United States Finland won in overtime, but Canada was stronger in the opening match with 0–4 goals.
Semi-final pairs at the Junior World Championships in Ottawa.
2.1. at 19:00 Sweden – Latvia
2.1. at 21:30 USA – Switzerland
3.1. at 0:00 Finland – Slovakia
3.1. at 02.30 Czech Republic – Canada