After 16 days of exhilarating international hockey action, the 2025 IIHF World Championship has officially come to a close with the Bronze and Gold Medal Games taking place at Stockholm’s Avicii Arena on Sunday.
The tournament’s two co-hosts Denmark and Sweden, met in the Bronze Medal Game after losses to Switzerland and the United States, respectively, on Saturday. Meanwhile in the Gold Medal Game, Switzerland, who has never won the World Championship before faced the United States, who was looking for their first World Championship title in 92 years.
Sweden (6) vs Denmark (2) F
Sweden and Denmark got the final day of the tournament going in Stockholm in front of a sold-out, mostly pro-Swedish crowd at Avicii Arena, which was to be expected, while the Danes had their fair share of supporters in attendance as well.
Denmark has had a historic tournament to this point after defeating Canada in the Quarterfinals on Thursday, which confirmed they would have best-ever finish at the IIHF World Championship and had an opportunity to take home their first medal, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
After a scoreless opening frame, Sweden poured it on in the second period with three goals, including a pair from Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund, to take a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes. Sweden would add a fourth early in the third period before Denmark rallied with two of their own, one of which was scored by Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, to cut the Swedish lead to two.
Sweden would tack on two more in the third period, thanks to Marcus Johansson and Mika Zibanejad, to win 6-2, claiming their second consecutive bronze medal at the IIHF World Championship and their 19th all-time.
Scoring Summary:
Sweden
- Mikael Backlund (2). Assists: Adam Larsson (3), Elias Lindholm (5).
- Mikael Backlund (3). Assists: Emil Heineman (2), Elias Lindholm (6).
- Marcus Johansson (3). Assists: Rasmus Sandin (3), Leo Carlsson (5).
- Lucas Raymond (5).
- Marcus Johansson (4). Assists: Mikael Backlund (6), Mika Zibanejad (3).
- Mika Zibanejad (5). Assists: Leo Carlsson (6), Erik Gustafsson (7).
Denmark
- Nick Olesen (5). Assists: Mikkel Aagaard (2), Phillip Bruggisser (3).
- Nikolaj Ehlers (3). Assists: Nick Olesen (7), Alexander True (2).
Switzerland (0) vs United States (1) F/OT
The two highest-scoring teams in the tournament, Switzerland and the United States, met in the Gold Medal Game of the 2025 IIHF World Championship and this game went exactly the opposite of how both teams played since the puck dropped back on Friday, May 9th.
Swiss netminder Leonardo Genoni, who came into action on Sunday with four shutouts in his last four games, was lights out once again and even broke the longest shutout streak in IIHF World Championship history, which was previously held by Finnish netminder Pekka Rinne.
On the other side of the ice, Boston Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman had been playing quite well since the start of the tournament, aside from a shaky start in the Preliminary Round against Norway, and on Sunday, was fantastic once again, stopping all 25 shots he faced for his second shutout of the World Championship.
With the score tied up at 0-0 and the shots favouring the United States 39-24 after 60 minutes, the two nations headed to a sudden-death 3-on-3 overtime with the winner taking home the gold medal at this year’s tournament.
Just over two minutes into the extra frame, Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson came into the Swiss zone and fired a perfect shot past Leonardo Genoni to give the United States a 1-0 win and their first goal medal at the World Championship since 1933.
As the United States’ leadership group went to accept the World Championship trophy from IIHF President Luc Tardif, they brought a Johnny Gaudreau jersey with them and posed for a picture with it. Gaudreau, who passed away last August after being struck by an alleged drunk drive, was a big part of the USA Hockey program and at last year’s World Championship, set a new record for most points by an American in tournament history.
Scoring Summary:
United States
- Tage Thompson (6). Assists: Logan Cooley (8), Brady Skjei (2).
My Three Stars of the Bronze & Gold Medal Games
- Mikael Backlund (Sweden) – 2 goals, 1 assist in win vs Denmark.
- Leonardo Genoni (Switzerland) – 39 saves on 40 shots in loss vs United States.
- Tage Thompson (United States) – Golden goal in win vs Switzerland.
2025 IIHF World Championship Awards
- Tournament MVP: Leonardo Genoni (Switzerland).
- Best Forward: David Pastrnak (Czechia).
- Best Defenseman: Zach Werenski (United States).
- Best Goaltender: Leonardo Genoni (Switzerland).
- Media All-Star Team – G: Leonardo Genoni (Switzerland), D: Zach Werenski (United States), Dean Kukan (Switzerland), F: David Pastrnak (Czechia), Elias Lindholm (Switzerland), Nick Olesen (Denmark).
Final Standings
- GOLD: United States.
- SILVER: Switzerland.
- BRONZE: Sweden.
- 4TH: Denmark.
- 5TH: Canada.
- 6TH: Czechia.
- 7TH: Finland.
- 8TH: Austria.
- 9TH: Germany.
- 10TH: Latvia.
- 11TH: Slovakia.
- 12TH: Norway.
- 13TH: Slovenia.
- 14TH: Hungary.
- 15TH (Relegated): Kazakhstan.
- 16TH (Relegated): France.
Projected Groups for 2026 IIHF World Championship
Before sharing the projected groups for the 2026 IIHF World Championship, it’s worth nothing that these are not final just yet. The host nation, Switzerland, has the right to swap two nation from Groups A and B, usually in order to boost attendance. We saw that this year as Canada, who was expected to play their Preliminary Round games in Denmark, get moved to Group A in Sweden.
Group A (Zurich): Switzerland, Canada, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain.
Group B (Fribourg): United States, Sweden, Czechia, Denmark, Slovakia, Norway, Slovenia, Italy.
I just wanted to wrap this up by thanking each and every single person who has read my daily recaps throughout the 2025 IIHF World Championship, it means a lot. The IIHF World Championship has been my favourite international hockey tournament since I was a kid, so to be able to do more in-depth daily recaps this year when compared to years past and have people reading it is amazing. Again, thank you.
Photo Credit: Associated Press.