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3 Takeaways From Switzerland’s 4-0 Win Over Germany

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Dec 31, 2025 8:15 AM ET

Switzerland and Germany was the only game on the schedule for Group A on day five of the 2026 World Junior Championship on Tuesday, Dec. 30. Both Germany and Switzerland looked for their first win of the tournament in hopes of staying out of the relegation round.

It looked like it was going to be a tight game from the start, but Switzerland jumped to an early lead in the first, and Germany had to find a way to fight back. Unfortunately for Germany, they weren’t able to score any goals and were shutout by Switzerland 4-0. In this article, we’ll look at a couple of takeaways for Switzerland and one for Germany, starting with Switzerland’s

Switzerland’s Goaltending Strong

Although they don’t have the greatest record, Switzerland has strong goaltending, and it’s shown in this tournament. They have two goaltenders they can rely on to help win them games, and for Switzerland, their combined save percentage has them at second place in the tournament with an overall combined save percentage of .914 over three games.

In net against Germany was Christian Kirsch, and although he wasn’t tested greatly, he still had to make a number of key saves to earn his shutout. He faced 20 shots and stopped all of them for his first shutout of the tournament. His play helped earn his team a spot in the quarterfinal as their win over Germany left Germany with zero wins and a spot in the relegation round, where they’ll face Denmark.

Switzerland has one more game left on New Year’s Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 31, where they’ll face Slovakia, and it’s likely everyone will see Elijah Neuenschwander in net, as teams usually don’t play goaltenders back-to-back. He’s also been strong in the net, and they’ve made a good tandem so far that could help earn some success in the next round.

Switzerland’s Scoring Rotation

They’ve had different scorers in all three of their games, and against Germany, it was Kimi Koerbler who stood out and helped his team get the win with two goals, including the game-winner. He scored the first goal of the game and the third goal, and although his team only needed one goal to get the win, every goal helped.

While Koerbler was the star with his goals and his overall strong play. He wasn’t the only player who stood out, either, as they had two other goal scorers in Ludvig Johnson and Jamiro Reber. Both have had a decent tournament so far, and getting themselves on the scoresheet might open the floodgates for more goals to come.

They’re going to need their scorers to step up in their final preliminary game against Slovakia, as Slovakia can score, but they also play physical like Germany did. Both teams will be looking to get that second win, and it’ll be a hard-fought game from start to finish.

Germany Struggles Against Switzerland

The game looked like it would be pretty even at the start, but once Switzerland found a way to score, Germany couldn’t answer back. They did keep up in terms of speed and skill level, but they couldn’t get past Kirsch in the net. They had chances, but Switzerland was ready for them and shut them down.

Germany did have strong physicality and threw quite a few more hits than Switzerland, but it didn’t help their scoring chances. Instead, they ended up in the penalty box quite a bit more than Switzerland, which also didn’t help their scoring chances. If they could’ve scored one goal, it would’ve been interesting to see how each team reacted and if they could’ve made a comeback attempt.

Regardless of where they ended up, Germany showed a lot of talent and a lot of potential in this tournament. They had a strong showing against USA, and although the scores don’t show it they kept up with every team they played, just not on the scoring side which of course is needed to win. Hopefully, they can take this experience and build on it for future years, but they still have the relegation round to get a win.

Both of these teams had their struggles in the tournament, but they both have a lot of talent and strong programs. It’ll be interesting to see how Switzerland does in the quarterfinal and if Germany can get a win in the relegation round to be in next year’s tournament.