Day four of the 2026 World Junior Championship on Monday, Dec. 29, saw a lot of Minnesotans shoveling their way out after a snowstorm that shut down a lot of local businesses. However, Germany and Sweden were all set to go as the first game on day four. It looked to be a pretty even match-up at first, but then Sweden found their scoring and Germany couldn’t keep up.
Sweden jumped to an early lead, but Germany tied it, and it looked to be that way until the second period, when Sweden pulled ahead and continued to throughout the third. They took the 8-1 win and extended their win streak to three games at the tournament while Germany remained winless. In this article, we’ll look at a couple of takeaways for Sweden and one for Germany, starting with Sweden’s scoring spree.
Sweden Steps Up Scoring
Sweden’s first two games of the tournament were rather close, with a 3-2 win over Slovakia on day one and a 4-2 win over Switzerland on day three. It was really a one-goal win because they knocked in an empty-netter at the end to defeat Switzerland, but against Germany, they turned up the scoring with eight goals, and none of them were empty-netters.
Three of Sweden’s players were responsible for six of those goals, with two each; Viggo Björck, Anton Frondell, and Jack Berglund all had two goals. They were easily Sweden’s best players throughout the game, but the other goal scorers can’t be overlooked either. Liam Danielsson had a goal plus an assist as did Felix Öhrqvist.
Leo Sahlin Wallenius and Sascha Boumedienne may not have had any goals on the board, but they each assisted on two and made it possible for their team to get on the scoreboard. Sweden has a lot of capable goal scorers and has proven they are hard to stop when they get going.
Sweden Has Two Strong Goaltenders
What’s even more dangerous about Sweden than their goal scoring is their goaltending. They have two goaltenders who are capable in the net, and both have earned wins in this tournament. Love Härenstam and Herman Liv have helped Sweden earn wins by allowing two or fewer goals in each game they’ve played.
It was likely that Liv would play against Germany because Härenstam played the day prior, and he was in the net for their first game. It’s unlikely that teams play the same goalie two days in a row, but Sweden is lucky that they can rely on either goaltender, no matter who they pick. It’s likely they go back to Härenstam for their next game, which will be against USA, but they could go with Liv as well.
Again, both goaltenders are capable, and it’ll be interesting to see who they choose to go with since they’ll have a day off in between. Whoever they go with will have to be ready because USA has some strong shooters on their roster.
Germany Took Too Many Penalties
It may not seem like it after seeing the final score, but this wasn’t an 8-1 game in terms of Sweden scoring constantly. It wasn’t great for Germany, but they did keep up with Sweden in terms of speed and physicality; the major difference was obviously that they could score while Germany couldn’t. It looked like they were going to make a game of it at the end of the first period, but then Sweden found their stride and Germany couldn’t get on the board outside of their lone goal.
Germany has a lot of talent, and if they’d stayed out of the penalty box, it’s possible they could’ve made it a closer game. They had a march to the penalty box that gave Sweden too many chances on the man advantage. Sweden scored four times on the power play, which is great for them, but way too many for Germany to keep up with.
Related: Guide to the 2026 World Junior Championship
If Germany wants to get into the win column, they have to stay out of the penalty box. They can’t take 12 minutes of penalties against a team with that strong of a power play, but they couldn’t find a way to stay disciplined, and once Sweden found their scoring, they kept pushing.
It’ll be interesting to see how Germany adjusts their game to take on Switzerland on Tuesday, Dec. 30. They have the talent and skills to compete, but they have to keep themselves out of the penalty box if they want to get a win over Switzerland.
