A spectacular opening day was on display at the World Junior Championships in Brno. With a total attendance of 2,744 spectators, it was a record number of the first day of all junior championships. However, the Czechs failed in their battle with the Finns and came short by two goals. The Slovaks and Latvia had a many goals game, the favourites Switzerland and Sweden also succeeded.
Over one thousand fans came to the stands for the evening game of the Czech Republic against Finland and wanted to help their team to victory. It was one of reasons that a new attendance record of the first day was set on the championship. However, coach Jaroslav Berka’s players lost their narrow lead and the Finns celebrated a 6:4 victory.
A lot of goals came in the opening game of the tournament when Slovakia and Latvia faced each other. During that game, the Baltic team built up a 6:3 lead, only for the Slovaks to come back with a 9:6 scoring. However, the Latvians dominated the third period again, taking the final result 14:10.
With identical scores of 13:2, the two strong teams with the medal ambition won their first matches. The Swiss defeated Denmark and Sweden scored the same amount against the Germans. A clear result came in Group D, where Poland crushed Italy 28:0. Belgium made their debut at the Junior World Championships but fell 2-6 to the Estonians. The Slovenians also had a good start to the tournament against Hungary.