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Summary of Washington Capitals Prospects at 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships: Cole Hutson, Ryan Leonard Win Gold With Team USA, Eriks Mateiko Excels for Team Latvia, and Petr Sikora Excels for Team Czechia

chief editorBy No Comments12 Mins Read


Photo: Team USA

Several Washington Capitals prospects participated in the recent 2025 World Junior Championships held in Ottawa, Canada. They include Cole Hutson (Team USA), Ryan Leonard (Team USA), Eriks Mateiko (Team Latvia), Leon Muggli (Team Switzerland), Miroslav Satan (Team Slovakia), and Petr Sikora (Team Czechia). Here’s a recap of how each of the prospects did in this year’s tournament.

Cole Hutson — LH Defenseman – Drafted in 2024 2nd Round (#43 overall)
Nationality: United States – Team: Boston University Terriers – Freshman

Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Hutson could arguably have been considered Team USA’s most valuable player.

On December 26, in the first game of the preliminary round, Hutson had five assists, including three primary assists, as Team USA clobbered Germany, 10-4.

His first assist was a primary assist on Team USA’s first goal at 8:07 in the first period, which was initially called “no goal” but was declared a goal after review.

His second assist was a primary assist on a goal scored by Gabe Perreault at 19:39 in the second period, making the score 6-2 in favor of Team USA.

Hutson had two secondary assists on goals scored during the third period, one at 7:16 and the other at t 9:44. His last assist was the primary assist on an empty-net goal at 19:39.

On December 29, in a 4-3 overtime loss to Finland, Hutson scored a goal at 1:45 in the second period by sending a shot on the short side from the left faceoff dot. At the time, it put USA up 2-1.

On New Year’s Eve, Hutson scored Team USA’s first goal at 13:02 during the first period on a power play to help Team USA beat Canada 4-1. He had come off the wall with the puck and snapped a shot to the far side, cleanly beating Canada’s goaltender.

Hutson also assisted on Team USA’s second goal while on a power play, taking the puck behind the net and passing to Danny Nelson, who shot and scored at 4:22 in the third period.

As a result of finishing first place in Group A during the preliminaries, Team USA faced Switzerland, who finished fourth in Group B, in the Quarterfinal game on January 2. Team USA beat the Swiss in that contest although Hutson was held off the scoresheet. Still, the NHL recognized his work and published an article about him just before their semi-final game against Team Czechia.

On January 4, Team USA faced Czechia and beat them, 4-1. Hutson recorded the secondary assist on the goal, putting Team USA ahead for good at 13:41 of the second period. This set up the Gold Medal game against Finland on January 5.

Team USA ultimately beat Finland 4-3 in overtime on January 5. Team USA had fallen behind 3-1 before the second period was five minutes old. But then Hutson had the second assist on a goal scored at 17:38.

Hutson scored at 19:31, less than two minutes later, after receiving a back pass from fellow Capitals draft pick Ryan Leonard along the right-wing boards and then walking in and beating the Finnish goalie. This goal tied the game at 3-3 which remained the goal until the overtime game winner.

At the end of the tournament, Hutson was selected as one of the top two defenders on the Media All-Star Team, along with Swedish defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka.

Hutson’s totals were three goals and eight assists for 11 points overall, the most for all participating skaters, and was the first time that a defenseman led in overall scoring. He also ranked second in assists.

Ryan Leonard — Right Wing – Drafted in 2023 1st Round (#8 overall)
Nationality: United States
Team: Boston College Eagles – Sophomore

Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP

Leonard was selected as Team USA Captain prior to the start of the tournament. He had plenty of heroics in the two preliminary exhibition games, scoring two goals and recording one assist against Slovakia in a 6-2 win on December 21 and then scoring one goal against Finland during a 5-2 win on December 23.

On December 26, in the first game of the preliminary round, Leonard assisted on Team USA’s first two goals, as Team USA clobbered Germany 10-4. His first assist was a secondary assist that came at 8:07 during the first period.

His second assist came at 11:56 during the first period.

Leonard scored the second goal (and the eventual game-winner) for Team USA. Leonard was parked by the back door post and received a cross-ice pass before he shot for the goal.

On New Year’s Eve, Leonard scored an empty net goal for Team USA at 18:08 of the third period to help Team USA beat Canada 4-1.

As a result of finishing first place in Group A in the preliminaries, Team USA faced Switzerland, who finished fourth in Group B, in the Quarterfinal game on January 2 and beat them 7-2. Leonard scored two goals for Team USA.

Leonard scored his first goal at 11:35 of the first period, putting Team USA ahead 3-0, when he picked off an errant pass, drove hard around a Swiss player to the net, and lifted the puck over the Swiss goaltender’s glove.

Leonard scored his second goal at 16:23 during the second period on the power play, putting Team USA ahead 7-1.

By beating Switzerland, Team USA then met Team Czechia on January 4. Due to facial injuries received during their battle with Switzerland, Leonard wore a face shield for the remaining games of the World Juniors.

But that did not deter Leonard’s play. In that game, Leonard hustled for the puck and swatted it to Gabe Perreault for the goal that put Team USA ahead 1-0 at 3:14 during the first period.

Leonard scored Team USA’s third goal at 15:33 which put Team USA ahead 3-1 as an insurance goal. Perreault sent a beautiful pass that Leonard tapped in for the score. The final score was 4-1 in favor of Team USA as they advanced to the Finals.

This set up the Gold Medal game against Finland.

Team USA ultimately beat Finland 4-3 in overtime on January 5. Team USA had fallen behind 3-1 early in the second period. But Team USA battled back for a goal and then at 19:31, Leonard assisted on the game-tying goal after he sent a back pass to Cole Hutson who scored. This goal tied the game at 3-3 which stayed that way until the overtime game-winner.

Team USA won 4-3 in overtime and earned their second consecutive World Junior title.

Leonard was awarded Best Forward in the IIHF Directorate Awards. He was also selected as one of the top three forwards on the Media All-Star Team and selected as Most Valuable Player, being the first recipient of the Murray Costello World Junior Championship MVP Award. He scored five goals and five assists for 10 points during the World Junior Championships. He was tied for second in points, only exceeded by Team USA teammate Cole Hutson. He was tied for fourth place in goals.

ERIKS MATEIKO (LW) – 19 – DRAFTED 2024 (Third Round, 90th Overall)
Nationality: Latvia – Team: St John Sea Dogs – League: QMJHL (Traded to Rimouski Oceanic Post-Tournament)

Photo: The Hockey News

Mateiko was a hero for Team Latvia, as they advanced to the Quarterfinals of the World Junior Championships. He was selected as one of the alternate captains.

Mateiko was instrumental for Latvia in their 3-2 shootout victory over Canada on December 27. He scored the game-tying goal at 13:18 of the third period, tying the score at 1-1.

Both teams went on to score before overtime. Mateiko ultimately scored a goal in the eighth round of the shootout to give Team Latvia the win. This was the first time that Latvia had ever defeated Canada.

He continued his heroics for Team Latvia in their 4-3 overtime victory against Germany on December 30. With Latvia down 2-0, Mateiko scored at 9:12 of the second period to break the shutout bid. Latvia eventually tied the game at 2-2.

Both teams scored late goals, forcing overtime. Mateiko won the game for Latvia at 3:23 in overtime, with the final score of 4-3 in favor of Latvia. Through their overtime wins, Latvia advanced to the World Junior Quarterfinals.

They met Team Sweden in the Quarterfinals and 3-2 in a valiant effort. Latvia fell behind 3-0 early in the second period. But then at 10:13 during the second period, Mateiko scored to break the shutout. He squeezed a shot past Sweden’s goaltender’s blocker arm.

Mateiko scored again at 18:50 during the second period which pulled Latvia to within one goal. Unfortunately, that was all Latvia got as they fell to Sweden.

For the tournament Mateiko scored five goals which led all skaters until Latvia was eliminated.

Mateiko spoke after the game. “We just started to play our game, really. I think we played harder, kind of woke up and knew that after that first goal we were in this. We showed them who we are.”

He continued, “We had a really young team, and a lot of guys are going to come back next year. So they’re going to have that confidence that we can battle with every team.”

Leon Muggli — LH Defenseman – Drafted in 2024 2nd Round (#52 overall)
Nationality: Switzerland
Team: ZUG EV – Swiss-A (Switzerland National League A)

The game between Team Switzerland and Team Slovakia on December 27 was a rough one for Muggli, as Slovakia edged Switzerland 2-1. Muggli had sent the puck to the middle where a Slovakian player corralled it and shot for the score.

He contributed three assists in a 7-5 loss to Team Sweden on December 28. All three of his assists came during the third period of that game.

Those three assists were his only three points. He ended up as -4 for the tournament.

Miroslav Satan — Center – Drafted in 2024 7th Round (#212 overall)
Nationality: Slovakia
Team: Trinec Ocelari HC

Satan played in three games in a depth role for Slovakia. He was injured during the third game and was out for the rest of the tournament.

Petr Sikora — Center – Drafted in 2024 6th Round (#178 overall)
Nationality: Czechia
Team: Trinec Ocelari HC

On December 26, Sikora scored an empty net goal at 17:31 in the third period as Team Czechia won 5-1 against Team Switzerland.

Team Czechia continued winning on December 28, beating Kazakhstan 14-2.

Sikora scored Czechia’s second goal at 5:51, putting the Czechs up 2-0. He assisted on another Czech goal at 5:59 during the second period.

On December 31, the Czechs lost 4-2 to Sweden. However, Sikora scored a goal on a one-timer after a great cross-ice feed at 11:57 during the second period which tied the game at 2-2 at that time. However, Sweden scored two unanswered goals to ensure their win.

The Czechs then advanced to the Quarterfinals and met Team Canada on January 2. The game started well for the Czechs as Sikora scored at 0:43 in the first period, tipping in the puck after getting a great pass. This put the Czechs up 1-0.

At 9:03 during the first period, a Canadian player made a knee-on-knee hit on Sikora and earned a 5-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for Canada. However, improbably enough, Canada scored a shorthanded goal to tie the score soon afterward and killed that penalty. But the Czechs eventually pulled ahead 3-1 before the end of the first period. Canada eventually tied the game at 3-3.

But Sikora earned the secondary assist for the game-winning goal for Czechia at 19:20 during the third period as the Czechs won 4-3,  advanced to the semi-final round, and eliminated Canada.

Team USA beat the Czechs 4-1 as Sikora was kept off the scoresheet. Team Czechia ultimately won the Bronze Medal by beating Team Sweden 3-2 in a shootout. Sikora was kept off the scoresheet in that game also.

Sikora played in seven games during the tournament, scoring 4 goals and recording three assists.

By Diane Doyle





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