Sabres at World Juniors | Schedules, how to watch, and updated results

The Buffalo Sabres will be represented by seven prospects at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, which will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.

Buffalo is one of three organizations that will have seven players in the tournament, the most among NHL teams.

The prospects officially set to participate in the tournament include forward Matt Savoie and goaltender Scott Ratzlaff for Canada, forwards Noah Ostlund and Anton Wahlberg for Sweden, defenseman Maxim Strbak for Slovakia, forward Jiri Kulich for Czechia, and defenseman Norwin Panocha for Germany.

Sabres director of player development Adam Mair offered insight on each player, which you can read here.

Check back here throughout the tournament for schedules and results below (all times eastern).

All games will be televised on NHL Network in the U.S. and TSN in Canada.

2024 World Junior Championship Schedule/Results

Tuesday, Dec. 26

Slovakia 6 - Czechia 2

Strbak skated 23:32, recording one goal, one assist, and a team-best five shots in Slovakia's win over Czechia.

The 18-year-old buried a one-timer from the right circle to extend Slovakia's lead to four with 8:04 remaining in the third.

Kulich, who was named team captain for Czechia, tallied three shots and 19:21 of ice time in the loss.

Canada 5 - Finland 2

Savoie led all Canadian forwards in ice time (17:42) and posted three shots in the victory while coming close to finding the scoresheet early in the game.

Ratzlaff did not dress for Tuesday's game.

United States 4 - Norway 1

Sweden 6 - Latvia 0

Wahlberg opened the scoring for Sweden, showing off his strong net-front presence by deflecting Axel Sandin Pellikka's shot from the point. Wahlberg skated 18:12 and recorded three shots in the win.

Ostlund tallied the secondary assist on Wahlberg's goal and led all Swedish forwards in ice time, logging 19:13 and two shots on goal.

Wednesday, Dec. 27

Slovakia 3 - Switzerland 0

Strbak skated 23:38 and assisted on an empty-net goal for his third point in two games. Slovakia improved to 2-0 behind a 36-save shutout from goaltender Adam Gajan.

Germany 4 - Finland 3

Panocha skated 17:34, tallied two shots, and had a plus-1 rating as Germany won its tournament opener.

Czechia 8 - Norway 1

Kulich scored a hat trick and added an assist to help power Czechia to its first victory of the tournament. His five points (3+2) through two games rank second among all tournament players. 

Kulich scored his first two goals during the opening period, sending Czechia into the intermission with a 2-1 lead. He buried a wrist shot from atop the left faceoff circle for his first goal:

His second goal came from the opposite circle, a one-timer on the power play that beat the goaltender between the pads:

Kulich buried a rebound on the rush to complete the hat trick with 4:45 remaining in the third period:

Canada 10 - Latvia 1

Savoie had an assist for his first point of the tournament and skated 13:33 in Canada's blowout victory. Ratzlaff did not dress.

Thursday, Dec. 28

United States 11 - Switzerland 3

Sweden 5 - Germany 0

Ostlund and Wahlberg continued to skate as linemates alongside Vancouver first-round pick Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Both players tallied two shots, with Ostlund contributing Sweden’s fifth goal of the game with 5:27 remaining in the third period.

Panocha skated 11:00 for Germany.

Friday, Dec. 29

Slovakia 8 - Norway 4

Strbak continued his production in Slovakia's win over Norway, recording three assists and four shots while skating 22:36. He tallied the primary assist on Servac Petrovsky's first goal of the game, feeding Petrovsky in the slot to take a 4-1 lead.

Strbak now has six points (1+5) in three games, which leads all defenseman in the tournament and is tied for second among all skaters.

Finland 4 - Latvia 0

United States 4 - Czechia 3 (SO)

Kulich tallied four shots in 20:40 and scored in the shootout, which was won by the United States in seven rounds. Watch his shootout goal below.

Sweden 2 - Canada 0

Ostlund screened Canada goaltender Mathis Rousseau on a shot from the point and buried the rebound for Sweden's second goal of the game.

Wahlberg skated 18:04 and tallied two shots for Sweden, which improved to 3-0 with the win.

Savoie had three shots in 16:22.

Saturday, Dec. 30

Switzerland 6 - Norway 2

Latvia 6 - Germany 2

Panocha recorded a goal and 15:05 of ice time in Germany's loss to Latvia. He jumped into the play and ripped a shot from the left circle to cut the deficit.

Sunday, Dec. 31

United States 10 – Slovakia 2

Strbak skated 22:26 in Slovakia’s first loss of the tournament. Slovakia advanced to the quarterfinal round as the second seed in Group B.

Finland 5 – Sweden 4 (SO)

Sweden finished as the top seed in Group A despite the shootout loss. The back-and-forth affair between the two rivals featured strong performances by both Sabres prospects.

Ostlund tallied a pair of assists and led Swedish forwards with 23:14 of ice time. He created the rebound for Isac Born’s goal to put Sweden on the board during the second period, then delivered a cross-ice pass to set up Jonathan Lekkerimaki’s goal on the power play.

Ostlund later deked his way through defenders to create a scoring chance of his own, but his shot deflected off the knob of the Finnish goaltender’s stick.

Wahlberg skated 18:40 and had four shots. He set the screen on Lekkiermaki's goal, then did so again on a power-play goal for Filip Bystedt.

Czechia 4 – Switzerland 2

Kulich scored the winning goal with 7:13 remaining in the third period to send Czechia to the quarterfinals as the third seed in Group B. It was his fourth goal and seventh point of the tournament.

Canada 6 - Germany 3

Ratzlaff did not dress while Savoie was held out of the game due to a lower-body injury as Canada finished second in Group A behind Sweden.

Panocha tallied a shot and 17:43 of ice time in Germany's loss.

Tuesday, Jan. 2

Quarterfinal 1: Finland 4 - Slovakia 3 (OT)

Strbak and Slovakia were eliminated from the tournament following their 4-3 overtime loss inside Frolundaborg. 

Strbak skated a team-high 25:59, recording an assist on Filip Mesar's game-tying goal in the third.

Quarterfinal 2: Czechia 3 - Canada 2

Czechia led 2-0 after the first period of play with goals from Jakub Stancl and Tomas Cibulka.

Kulich recorded the lone assist on Cibulka's goal as he fed the defenseman for a shot from the point.

Canada responded with two tallies in the second before Stancl scored the game-winnning goal with 11 seconds remaining in the final period to send Czechia to the semifinals.

Kulich skated 18:26 with one shot and his assist in the victory while Matt Savoie returned from a lower-body injury to record two shots and 15:53 of ice time for Canada.

Quarterfinal 3: United States 7 - Latvia 2

Quarterfinal 4: Sweden 3 - Switzerland 2 (OT)

Wahlberg recorded an assist, three shots, and 18:46 of ice time in Sweden's 3-2 win. Wahlberg passed to Liam Ohgren before screening the goaltender for the second goal of the game.

With the game tied 2-2, Ostlund tallied the secondary assist on Sandin Pellikka's overtime winner to send Sweden to the semifinals. Ostlund skated a team-high 24:05.

Thursday, Jan. 4

Relegation game: Germany 5 - Norway 4 (OT)

Panocha skated 20:46 as Moritz Elias scored the game-winning goal in overtime to give Germany the win in the relegation game. 

Semifinal 1: Sweden 5 - Czechia 2

With the score tied 2-2 and Sweden on the power play, Wahlberg won a puck battle in the corner and fed the puck to the point to help create the go-ahead goal for Sweden.

Ostlund extended Sweden’s lead as Theo Lindstein sent Ostlund on the breakaway to beat Michael Hrabal on the backhand.

Just over a minute later, Ostlund brought the puck up the left wing, took a shot off Hrabal’s pad, and regained possession behind the net before passing to Jonathan Lekkerimaki in the slot for a one-timer to put Sweden up 5-2.

Ostlund finished with two shots and 18:05 of ice time in addition to his goal and assist. He has now totaled three goals and six assists in six games.

Wahlberg skated 17:04, recording one assist and two shots in the victory while Kulich skated 19:23 for Czechia, tallying a team-high five shots.

Kulich has eight points (4+4) in six games and was named one of Czechia's top-three players of the tournament by the federation, along with Hrabal and Marek Alscher.

Ostlund and Wahlberg will compete for gold Friday at 1:30 p.m. versus the winner of the United States/Finland semifinal game.

Semifinal 2: United States 3 - Finland 2

Finland led 2-0 after the first period of play with goals from Oiva Keskinen and Rasmus Kumpulainen but the U.S. responded with a pair of goals in the second from Jimmy Snuggerud and Will Smith to tie the score.

Cutter Gauthier scored the game-winning goal with just over three minutes remaining in the game to send the U.S. to the championship game against Sweden.

Friday, Jan. 5

Third-place game: Czechia 8 - Finland 5 

Entering the third down 5-3, Czechia erupted for five third-period goals to defeat Finland 8-5 and take home a bronze medal. 

Kulich recorded two goals, two assists, and eight shots in the victory, including the primary assists on the game-tying and game-winning goals.

The captain was named Czechia's Player of the Game for his efforts as he ended his tournament with 12 points (6+6) in seven games, which included two game-winning goals and three power-play goals.

Championship game: United States 6 - Sweden 2

Sweden fell in the championship game as the United States scored three unanswered goals in the third period en route to a 6-2 win to take home the gold.

Ostlund led all forwards in the gold medal game with 21:10 of ice time while Wahlberg skated 20:04.

Ostlund recorded one assist, three shots, and 10 shot attempts as he was named Sweden's Player of the Game.