U.S. Tops Germany 8-0 in 2026 World Juniors Pre-Tournament Action

DULUTH, Minn. – Six different players tallied goals to help the U.S. to an 8-0 victory over Germany here today at AMSOIL Arena in its first pre-tournament contest of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship.

“It was good to get a game under our belts and I thought we did some good things,” said Bob Motzko, head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team and also head coach of the University of Minnesota men’s ice hockey team. “We really like our group and we’ll look forward to getting on the ice tomorrow before we play Finland on Tuesday.”

After both sides were held scoreless for the opening 19 minutes of the contest,  Will Horcoff (Birmingham, Mich./University of Michigan) opened the scoring with 52 seconds remaining in the opening frame when he capitalized on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a feed from James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y./Boston College). Brodie Ziemer (Chaska, Minn./University of Minn.) also tallied a helper on the play. 

HIGHLIGHTS

Just 34 seconds later, and nine seconds into a power play opportunity,  Luke Osburn (Plymouth, Mich./University of Wisconsin) threaded a pass across the slot to Ryker Lee (Wilmette, Ill./Michigan State University) on the back door, who tucked the puck past German netminder Lennart Neisse to double the U.S. lead.

At the 3:51 mark of the middle frame, while on the man advantage, Lee stickhandled past a pair of German players and maneuvered into the slot, where he sent a backhand dish to Will Zellers (Maple Grove, Minn./University of North Dakota) at the bottom of the right circle, who batted a one-timer home short-side to give Team USA a 3-0 lead. 

Teddy Stiga (Sudbury, Mass./Boston College) added to the tally with 1:37 to play in the second when he wristed the puck top-shelf from the slot off a feed from Lee. Horcoff then capitalized on a breakaway chance just eight seconds later to make it a 5-0 with Ziemer and EJ Emery (Compton, Calif./University of North Dakota) picking up assists on the play.

At the 1:30 mark of the final stanza, while the U.S. was shorthanded, Shane Vansaghi (St. Louis, Mo./Michigan State University) intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and sent a pass to Cole McKinney(Lake Forest, Ill./University of Michigan) who was all alone skating through the neutral zone. McKinney capitalized on a breakaway opportunity on the backhand to put the U.S. up 6-0. 

Zellers got his second of the night with 4:12 remaining, scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the circles while on the power play.

With 2:26 to play in the contest, Ziemer scored off a feed from Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen (Northville, Mich./University of Michigan) to account for the 8-0 final. 

Brady Knowling (Chicago, Ill./USA Hockey National Team Development Program) played the first 27:23 and made 12 stops to pick up the win. Nick Kempf (Morton Grove, Ill./ University of Notre Dame) played the final 32:37 and also had 12 saves.

The U.S. will play its second and final pre-tournament game Tuesday (Dec. 23) against Finland at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. Opening faceoff is set for 6 p.m. local time/7 p.m. ET, and the game will stream live on USAHockeyTV.com. Tickets for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship are on sale now, and available for purchase here.

NOTES: The U.S. outshot Germany 49-24 … Team USA went 3-6 on the power play, while Germany was 0-4.

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