Three members of the Winnipeg Jets participated in the 2023 IIHF World Hockey Championship, which is being hosted in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia over the past two weeks.
Of the three - a list that included Nikolaj Ehlers, Nino Niederreiter, and Dylan Samberg - only Samberg had a chance at a medal. He along with his USA teammates took on Latvia in the bronze medal game on Sunday.
USA 3, LATVIA 4 (OT)
It was a tough finish to a tournament that started off so brilliantly for the American squad.
They had seven wins in the preliminary round, then earned a shutout victory in the quarterfinal against Czechia, but that's when adversity hit.
They lost a third period lead in the semi-final against Germany and fell in overtime, only to have the same thing happen again in the bronze medal game.
With the score tied 2-2 after a busy 20 minutes, no one else found the scoresheet until Matt Coronato put the USA ahead 6:19 into the third. Dylan Samberg picked up the primary assist, as his wrist shot from the point off an offensive zone face-off win found its way to the net. Coronato was able to find the loose puck and jam it home to put the USA up 3-2.
But with 5:39 to go in regulation, Latvia tied it up on the first of two goals from Kristians Rubins in the game.
His second? It was the overtime winner, which came 1:22 into overtime, and gave Latvia their first medal at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.
Along with his assist, Samberg had two shots on goal and played 20:05.
This was Samberg's first experience at the Worlds, and he finished with one goal - an overtime winner in the preliminary round - and three assists for four points.
