HERNING, Denmark – It’s the U.S. and Germany battling here today in preliminary round play of the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship. Opening faceoff is set for 12:20 p.m. local/6:20 a.m. ET at Jyske Bank Boxen. All U.S. games in the world championship can be seen live on NHL Network.

For Team USA, it’s an important game heading into the final three games of preliminary round play as it looks to secure its place in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

The U.S. had the last two days free of games, and after a day off on Thursday, used yesterday to get back on the ice to prepare for the Germans. The U.S. faced Germany in its lone pre-tournament game on May 4 in Dusseldorf, Germany, and came away with a 5-2 win on the back of two goals each from Frank Nazar and Tage Thompson.

The U.S. and Germany meet for the 24th time in IIHF Men’s World Championship history with Team USA holding a 14-0-2-4-3 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) all-time series advantage. The U.S. has won six of the last seven meetings in the series. The teams met in the preliminary round of last year’s tournament with the U.S. gaining a 6-1 win. 

Cutter Gauthier (4-1—5) and Logan Cooley (2-3—5) enter play today atop the U.S. point chart with Tage Thompson (3-1—4), Frank Nazar (2-2—4), Clayton Keller (1-3—4) and Will Smith (0-4—4) one off the lead.

The U.S. will face Kazakhstan tomorrow at 4:20 p.m. local time/10:20 a.m. ET to complete its second set of back-to-back games in the tournament.