It was business as usual. Undefeated Sweden employed a balanced attack to down Latvia 6-3 in the first quarter-final of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship on Friday.

Sniper Anton Frondell led the way with two goals, tying him for the tournament lead (five) with Slovakia's Tomas Chrenko and the U.S.'s Will Zellers. Blueliner Leo Sahlin Wallenius stepped up with a goal and two assists. Captain Jack Berglund, Sascha Boumedienne, and Felix Carell also scored for Sweden.

"We came out hard and got an early goal there as well, but we knew it would be a tough one," said Berglund. "They're good defensively, and they're good on the PP as well. We saw that early on. I think we handled it well and showed a lot of patience. Good to get the win. Two to go!"

Sweden is looking for just its third gold medal of all time (1981, 2012) after finishing fourth last year. The Juniorkronorna settled for their record-setting 12th World Junior silver medal in 2024 in Gothenburg with a 6-2 gold-medal loss to the Americans. 

Kristers Ansons, Karlis Flugins, and Olivers Murnieks replied for Latvia. Brunos Osmanis assisted on both Latvian power play goals.

This was Latvia's fourth quarter-final appearance in five World Juniors, the lone exception being 2023 (ninth place). The Latvians have finished seventh twice (2022, 2025), their highest-ever placement.

Reflecting the heightened expectations around the Latvian program, coach Artis Abols said: "I can't be satisfied that we lost in the quarter-finals. I want it in their DNA that if they want to win, they can't be satisfied with a small piece of the cake. They need to take the whole cake someday."

Sweden outshot Latvia 38-16. Swedish coach Magnus Havelid gave the nod to starter Love Harenstam in net, while Abols went with Nils Maurins.

Havelid discussed his team's mentality for the remaining games: "We are like an underdog, so we're going after someone. We just have two golds, but it's time for number three. You don't worry about who you play in the semi-final. You must just focus on your game, relax a little bit in a good way, and take the opportunity you have in about 60 minutes."

This tournament has seen a trend of teams of scoring on their first shot of a period. Accordingly, it took just 10 seconds for Frondell to draw first blood. Sweden got the puck deep off the opening faceoff and Latvia was unable to clear it past Sahlin Wallenius at the point. Frondell got a stick on the defender's shot in front and it eluded Maurins.

The Latvian goalie foiled Linus Eriksson a few minutes later when he stickhandled in alone on net. It was Harenstam’s turn to say no when Murnieks split the Swedish defence with a dipsy-doodle display of his own midway through the first.

Latvia kept on plugging and tied it up on the power play at 13:07. Confident puck movement paid off with  Ansons firing home a snap shot from the left faceoff circle.

Sweden regained the lead at 16:15. Lucas Pettersson cannily circled the Latvian zone with the puck before centering it from the goal line to Berglund, who made no mistake on the doorstep. The Swedish captain did a good job of battling for body position with blueliner Martins Vitols.

At 14:05 of the second period, the Swedes went up 3-1 on Boumedienne's centre point blast on the power play. With Berglund again wreaking havoc in front, Maurins was distracted and the puck slammed into a wide-open net.

"We have a lot of good players in the team that like to shoot and have really high-quality shots," Frondell said. "So we shouldn't pass too much. We've been shooting and it's been working out well."

Maurins got some vindication seconds later when he stopped Victor Eklund on a breakaway. But the industrious Swedish assistant captain followed up on the rebound, keeping the puck in the zone and ultimately feeding Carell in front for a slapper that made it 4-1 at 15:40.

The Latvians had a huge chance with a 5-on-3 man advantage at the end of the middle frame, but never came close to cashing in.

In the third period, Frondell stretched the Swedish lead to 5-1 at 1:58 on a wrister off the rush. It was yet again Sweden's first shot of the period.

Flugins cut the deficit to 5-2 with a nice snipe less than two minutes later. But Sahlin Wallenius made it 6-2 Sweden with a long shot through traffic at 15:54.

Abols called his timeout before a Latvian power play in the dying stages. It took just 12 seconds for Murnieks to capitalize at 18:10. However, that was as close as Latvia would get.

"Every single game, we go out not to just play," said Latvian captain Oskars Briedis. "We try to take a point from the other team or win the game. That's what we're trying to do. And every single year, Latvian hockey grows and grows. I think maybe next year it's going to be way better than this year."

This was a rematch of last year’s quarter-final, in which Sweden prevailed 3-2, outshooting Latvia 50-13. Although the Baltic underdogs trailed by three goals early in the second period, they rallied to make it 3-2, and goalie Linards Feldbergs kept their hopes alive to the final buzzer.

The Swedes have won five straight games in regulation time, the only team at these World Juniors to do so. This was also Sweden’s 20th consecutive World Junior quarter-final win. The last time the Swedes lost was 8-2 to the Americans in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 2005.