World Championship Recap - 31.05.26

Olli Määttä and Finland captured gold at the 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship, downing host Switzerland in overtime.

It's the first gold medal finish for the Finnish blueliner, who has represented his country on many occasions and has collected a World Championship silver medal and two Olympic bronze medals in the past. 

Zach Whitecloud and Canada were also in action on Sunday, taking on Norway in the bronze medal match-up.

Canada 2, Norway 3 (OT)

Whitecloud and Canada were able to claw back from a 2-0 deficit but ultimately fell to Norway in extra time, finishing fourth in the tournament.

Norway opened the scoring at 6:44, with Emilio Pettersen, a former Flames draft pick who is now with Djurgårdens IF in the SHL, stealing the puck from Canadian netminder Jet Greaves and putting home his first goal of the tournament with a wraparound tally.

Stian Solberg made it a 2-0 affair in the second period, with his wrist shot deflecting past Greaves at 12:29.

Canada's Robert Thomas was able to score twice late in the third period, with beating Norway goaltender Henrik Haukeland high at 18:44 and then again at 19:52 when he was able to smack home a rebound in the crease.

Noah Steen played the hero in overtime, going in on a two-on-one with Sander Hurrod and putting a wrist shot past Greaves glove side at 3:32.

The win marked Norway's first medal in IIHF history in any top-division tournament.

Whitecloud put in 15:02 of work on Sunday, finishing the game with one shot on net. In 10 games at the tournament, he had one point and 10 shots while being paired with Darnell Nurse.

Finland 1, Switzerland 0 (OT)

In a tightly-contested battle, it all came down to one goal - in extra time - in the gold medal tilt.

Määttä nearly opened the scoring in the first period, with Anton Lundell getting the puck in front of the net where Määttä was able to able to tip it on net but Swiss netminder Leonardo Genoni was able to make the stop.

The countries traded chances throughout regulation, with Finland outshooting Switzerland 22-19 in the opening 60 minutes.

In overtime, both teams hit the iron in the early going with Finland's Jesse Puljujarvi going end-to-end rush and wiring a shot off the post and Switzerland's Damien Riat's shot deflecting past Finnish goaltender Justus Annunen but hitting the crossbar.

Konsta Helenius played the hero for the Finns, taking a pass in the neutral zone and zipping through the offensive zone and around multiple Swiss players, before wiring a shot past Genoni at 10:42.

Määttä, who was paired with Nikolas Matinpalo, put in 20:21 of work in the final. He ends the tournament with two points and 12 shots through 10 games.