Switzerland beats Norway at world juniors

GOTHENBURG, Sweden –

Switzerland defeated Norway 6-2 on Saturday to secure a quarterfinal berth at the world junior hockey championship.

Simon Meier opened the scoring for Switzerland but Norway took the lead late in the first period after Martin Johnsen and Patrik Dalen scored less than a minute apart.

Switzerland scored four times in the second period to pull away. Leo Braillard, Jonas Taibel, Rodwin Dionicio and Thierry Schild found the back of the net.

Dionicio tacked on an insurance goal early in the third period as Switzerland improved to 1-0-0-2.

Winless Norway (0-0-0-4) will finish last in Group B and play a relegation game on Thursday.

Switzerland will close out its preliminary round Sunday against Czechia.

LATVIA 6 GERMANY 2

Latvia finally got its offence going Saturday after opening the tournament with three straight shutout losses.

Sandis Vilmanis scored twice and added an assist for Latvia (1-0-0-3) while Dans Locmelis had three assists.

Germany, which fell to 1-0-0-2, will play Canada on Sunday.

Eriks Mateiko, Rodzers Bukarts, Peteris Bulans and Rainers Darzins had the other goals for Latvia.

Samuel Schindler and Norwin Panocha tallied for Germany.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2023.