The 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship continued its group stage action on Tuesday, delivering two compelling matchups split between host venues in Zurich and Fribourg. In the day’s opening contest in Zurich, Austria notched its third consecutive win, a 3-1 defeat of Latvia that pulls it even on points with co-leaders Switzerland and Finland at the top of the tightly contested Group A standings.
The game remained scoreless through the first period, before Tim Harnisch broke the deadlock in the second frame to put Austria ahead 1-0 heading into the final stanza. Latvia responded quickly after the break, when captain and tournament breakout star Rudolfs Balcers netted his fourth goal of the competition — a mark that still leads all players at the championship — to draw the sides level.
The deadlock held only briefly, as Austria capitalized on a power play opportunity minutes later. Benjamin Nissner buried the go-ahead goal to restore his side’s lead, and with Latvia pulling their goaltender in the final minutes to search for an equalizer, Vinzenz Rohrer sealed the three points with an empty-net goal to lock in the 3-1 final score.
Across the tournament in Group B, hosted in Fribourg, Norway earned a dominant 4-0 shutout victory over Italy, marking the second win and second clean sheet for the Nordic side. All four of Norway’s goals came from different scorers: Eskild Bakke Olsen, Noah Steen, Christian Kaasastul and Tinus Luc Koblar each found the back of the net once. Norwegian goaltender Henrik Haukeland turned away all 30 shots on goal he faced to preserve the shutout. For Italy, a promoted side making its first appearance in the top division of the world championship in recent years, the result leaves the team still searching for its first point of the tournament.
Two more group stage games are scheduled to take place later the same day: Britain will face off against Hungary in Zurich, while Slovakia clashes with Slovenia in Fribourg to round out Tuesday’s match schedule.