2025 Men’s U20 World Championships: Australia loses opener to Israel

The Australian men’s national under-20 team have lost 2–5 to the Israeli men’s national under-20 team in their opening game of the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division II Group B tournament in Belgrade, Serbia. Australia’s two goals were scored by forward Brayden Maybee, his first in international competition at the under-20 level. As a result, he was presented with the IIHF award for best Australian player of the match. The result is a decline compared to the last meeting between the two teams in 2023, when Australia won 4–1.

In the other games of the day, Spain defeated Iceland 2–0 and Belgium beat Serbia 4–2. At the end of the first round, Australia sits last on the standings while Israel leads with three points. Australia takes on Spain today for their second game of the tournament. The two teams last met at the 2017 World Championships where Spain won 15–2.

Results

Israel	5–2	Australia
SOG: 31	(0–1, 2–0, 3–1)	SOG: 15

Iceland	0–2	Spain
SOG: 13	(0–0, 0–1, 0–1)	SOG: 30

Serbia	2–4	Belgium
SOG: 29	(1–0, 1–1, 0–3)	SOG: 24

Standings

Pos	+/–	Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	PTS
1	–	Israel	1	1	0	0	0	3
2	–	Belgium	1	1	0	0	0	3
3	–	Spain	1	1	0	0	0	3
4	–	Serbia	1	0	0	0	1	0
5	–	Iceland	1	0	0	0	1	0
6	–	Australia	1	0	0	0	1	0

Further information

• Tournament page on IIHF.com
• Tournament schedule
• Australia’s team roster
• Livestream of the tournament via YouTube