World Junior Championship roundup: U.S. tops Sweden for gold

Friday was the final day of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, which was held at Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden.

United States 6, Sweden 2 -- Isaac Howard (Tampa Bay Lighting) scored two goals in the second period to lead the United States to the gold medal at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship at Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden.

"It's unbelievable," Howard said. "Best moment in my hockey career. To do it with guys I love, we just went to war this last month togheter. Anything but gold was a failure to us. Achieving our goal was awesome."

Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers) had a goal and two assists to lead the U.S. to its first tournament championship since 2021. Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg Jets) had a goal and an assist, and Zeev Buium (2024 NHL Draft eligible) and Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals) scored. Will Smith (San Jose Sharks) had two assists, and Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings) made 24 saves.

It was the sixth championship in for the U.S. in the past 20 years (2004, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2021). In the first 27 years of the WJC, dating to 1977, the U.S. had won three medals: silver in 1997 and bronze in 1986 and 1992.

"Full team effort," U.S. coach David Carle said. "Weather the storm, the crowd. ... Their commitment to each other, the country, to not caring who scored, who got the credit, who was out, who was in. That's what championship teams are all about."

Howard also was one of 11 U.S. players that skated Friday that had lost to Sweden in the 2022 IIHF World Under-18 Championship gold-medal game. Also playing in that game were forwards McGroarty, Leonard, Smith, Cutter Gauthier (Philadelphia Flyers), Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis Blues), Frank Nazar (Chicago Blackhawks) and Gavin Brindley (Columbus Blue Jackets), and defensemen Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens), Ryan Chesley (Washington Capitals) and Seamus Casey (New Jersey Devils).

"We remembered what happened at U-18 Worlds," Howard said. "All the guys that played in that kind of remember that feeling and we made sure to not leave anything for granted, give everything we had."

Otto Stenberg (St. Louis Blues) and Jonathan Lekkerimaki (Vancouver Canucks) scored for Sweden, which was trying to win its first WJC gold since 2012. Hugo Havelid (2024 draft eligible) made 20 saves.

"In the first two periods, we had them where we wanted," Sweden defenseman Mattias Havelid (San Jose Sharks) said. "In the third, they had a one-goal lead but we felt good. Then they scored and things didn't go our way."

Howard gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead at 9:24 of the second period when he raced past Sweden defenseman Tom Willander (Vancouver Canucks) to reach a long pass up the wall by Drew Fortescue (New York Rangers), cut to the net and beat Havelid with a backhander from the crease.

Howard made it 3-1 at 14:19 when his sharp-angle shot went off Havelid's right skate and into the net. It was his seventh goal, tied with Lekkerimaki for the tournament lead.

"[Howard] took over that game out there today," McGroarty said. "We absolutely love him for it. He scores goals, he makes plays, he has fun."

Czechia 8, Finland 5: Tomas Hamara (Ottawa Senators) scored at 18:19 of the third period and Czechia rallied against Finland in the bronze-medal game at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship at Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden on Friday.

Ondrej Becher (2024 draft eligible) had a hat trick and two assists for Czechia, which scored six straight goals after trailing 5-2 late in the second period.

Jiri Kulich (Buffalo Sabres) had two goals and two assists for Czechia, which lost 5-2 to Sweden in the semifinals Thursday. Hamara also had two assists, Jakub Stancl (St. Louis Blues) had a goal and an assist, and Matyas Melovsky (2024 draft eligible) had three assists.

Jakub Vondras (Carolina Hurricanes) made 17 saves on 20 shots after replacing Michael Hrabal (Arizona Coyotes), who allowed two goals on three shots and was replaced 7:43 into the first period.

Becher started the turnaround when he scored a short-handed goal at 19:05 of the second period to make it 5-3.

"It was really good for us that we scored that goal," Hamara said. "It's better to go to the third period just two goals [down] rather than three."

Kulich's second power-play goal of the game made it 5-4 at 4:41 of the third, and Becher scored on the rebound of a Kulich shot to tie the game 5-5 at 18:04.

Hamara scored the winner on a shot from the left point after a face-off win on the left side of the Finland zone.

"We had a face-off play that didn't work out," Hamara said. "Jiri just passed it to me and the only thing I saw was net so I just tried to shoot it there and it went through."

Dominik Rymon (18:52) and Becher (18:54) added empty-net goals two seconds apart for Czechia to set a tournament record for fastest two goals.

Czechia, which won the silver medal at the 2023 WJC, has finished in the top three at the WJC in consecutive years for the first time since it won consecutive tournaments in 2000 and 2001.

Lenni Hameenaho (New Jersey Devils) scored two goals for Finland, which lost 3-2 to the United States in the semifinals Thursday. Jani Nyman (Seattle Kraken) had a goal and an assist, and Konsta Helenius (2024 draft eligible) and Rasmus Kumpulainen (Minnesota Wild) also scored.

Niklas Kokko (Seattle Kraken) made 23 saves.

Finland finished in fourth after a fifth-place finish at the 2023 WJC.