James Hagens (Boston College) recorded two goals and two assists while Cole Hutson (Boston University) added five assists to help the U.S. National Junior Team to a 10-4 victory over Germany in its first preliminary round contest of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship Thursday afternoon in Ottawa, Ont., at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“I thought overall we did a lot of good things and we’ll continue to grow and build,” said David Carle (Denver), head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team, in a statement. “It was good to get a win under our belt and we’ll turn our focus now to playing Latvia on Saturday.”
Team USA nearly opened the scoring 4:27 into the game, but Gabe Perreault (Boston College) was denied by German netminder Nico Pertuch on a sprawling save at the goal line on what looked like a sure goal.
Hagens opened the scoring for Team USA at 8:07 when he put home a loose puck after a net-front scrum. Hutson and Ryan Leonard (Boston College) assisted on the tally.
Perreault, subsequently named the U.S. player of the game, wristed a shot over the glove of Pertuch at 11:56 following a feed from Hagens to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead.
U.S. netminder Trey Augustine (Michigan State) denied Nick Maul on a two-on-one opportunity with 2:13 remaining to maintain Team USA’s two-goal advantage after the first frame.
Trevor Connelly (Providence) extended the U.S. advantage just 1:38 into the second, as he capitalized on a pass from Cole Eiserman (Boston University) to put Team USA up 3-0.
Germany’s Julius Sumpf scored on the power play at 5:00 and David Lewandowski tallied with 10:37 remaining in the middle frame to trim the U.S. lead to 3-2.
Hagens scored his second of the contest at 14:01 as he powered a shot under Pertuch’s arm to give Team USA a 4-2 lead.
Brandon Svoboda (Boston University) scored what proved to be the game winner at 18:40, as he backhanded home a rebound opportunity. Perreault lasered a wrister into the back of the net 59 seconds later to give Team USA a 6-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Carey Terrance (OHL’s Erie Otters) found the back of the net 3:04 into the third period, converting a two-on-one opportunity with Svoboda to extend the U.S. lead to five.
Lenny Boos scored for Germany at 5:37 before Brodie Ziemer (Minnesota) tallied a pair of goals at the 7:16 and 9:44 marks to put the game out of reach.
After Timo Ruckdaschel scored for Germany at 16:14, Eiserman added the final U.S. goal to account for the 10-4 final.
Augustine made 18 saves for the U.S. in the victory.
The U.S. National Junior Team is back in preliminary round action against Latvia on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
