With a convincing 4-0 win over Germany on Tuesday, Switzerland secured a quarter-final berth at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. Kimi Koerbler led the Swiss attack with two goals, and goalie Christian Kirsch made 20 saves for his first career World Junior shutout.

"That was our goal, to at least beat one team," said Swiss captain Leon Muggli. "I feel like we had two good games against Sweden and the U.S., and now we got rewarded."

Germany, which has lost four straight games, heads to Friday's relegation game versus Denmark.

"We scored zero goals," said German captain Tobias Schwarz. "We can't win the game [that way], that's the truth. For sure, there were some things we did better than the last game against Sweden. We need to start scoring goals and get better on some things."

The Swiss, who came eighth last year, are into the quarter-finals for the tenth consecutive year. They have only medaled once (bronze in 1998) and have not won an elimination game since stunning Sweden 2-0 in 2019 in Victoria en route to fourth place. They can improve their quarter-final seeding by defeating Slovakia on New Year's Eve.

German netminder Lennart Neisse was far busier than Kirsch, as shots favoured Switzerland 47-20.

Special teams helped the Swiss earn their first win of the tournament. Not only did they get their first power play goal of these World Juniors, but they also kept their perfect penalty-killing record. The only other nation with an unblemished PK is Canada.

"It's pretty important, especially against the good countries in this tournament," said Muggli. "We've had our focus on the PK for sure. We had a lot of video sessions and then tried to do it on the ice. It's working out pretty well so far."
 

The Swiss had an extra day to recover after losing 4-2 to Sweden, while Germany was just over 24 hours removed from their 8-1 defeat versus the Swedes.

Switzerland dominated its neighbouring rivals from the get-go and drew first blood at 11:42. Defenceman Gian Meier sent a pass from the point to Koerbler, who was parked in front. The EHC Kloten forward took the puck off his skate and pivoted to put it past Neisse.

On the power play, Switzerland made it 2-0 at 13:10 courtesy of a great heads-up play by Muggli. The 19-year-old Washington Capitals prospect cruised in from the blue line and then located Jamiro Reber in the right faceoff circle for a lightning one-timer.

Just 1:08 into the second period, Koerbler scored his second goal of these World Juniors on an audacious solo effort. He stole the puck from Schwarz at the German blue line and raced in on net, converting his own rebound over Neisse's outstretched pad.

"I just saw an opportunity to attack the defender, because he had this head turned and didn't see me from the other side," Koerbler explained.

It was 4-0 Switzerland at 6:10. Off a faceoff in the German end, the Swiss controlled the puck, and Ludvig Johnson sniped a beauty past the goalie's glove.

For all intents and purposes, the game was now out of reach for Germany. The Swiss played solid two-way hockey in the third period to preserve Kirsch's shutout.

The Germans are no strangers to do-or-die relegation games. They finished ninth the last two years, defeating Norway 5-4 in overtime in 2024 and Kazakhstan 4-3 in 2025 to stay up.

"It's one game and anything can happen," Schwarz said. "We need to play hard. Face the game from the first minute, dominate the other team, give them no breathing room. We'll be all over them if we do those things and play our game."