WORLDS: Howard, Ekholm earn quarter-final spots with United States & Sweden on last day

SWITZERLAND – The Oilers are set for the quarterfinals – all but one of them.

On a busy final day of the preliminary stage at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, there were some late triumphs for Isaac Howard & Mattias Ekholm with the United States & Sweden, but heartbreak for Josh Samanski & Germany as they could only watch as their hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals came to an end.

Isaac Howard and the United States were victorious 4-1 over Austria on the final day, finishing fourth in Group A with 11 points above Austria & Germany to set up a clash with Canada and Oilers teammates Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse in the quarterfinals. It'll be the first meeting between the two rivals since the gold-medal game at Milano-Cortina 2026 in February, which the United States won in overtime.

Canada finished as the top seed in Group B and had first place locked in before their 3-2 comeback win over Czechia on Tuesday, finishing unbeaten in the preliminary stage (5-1-0-0) after overturning a 2-0 deficit before the midway mark of the second period.

Bouchard added another assist on John Tavares' tally that made it 4-1 in the final frame, giving the Oilers defenceman a goal and five assists in six games for Canada at Worlds.

Mattias Ekholm tallied another assist for Sweden in a 4-2 win over Slovakia in a showdown for the final spot in Group B to finish fourth, setting up a date with undefeated hosts Switzerland in the quarter finals on Thursday. 

The 36-year-old finished with three goals and two assists in seven preliminary games, adding another assist with four shots and going plus-2 in 25:15 of ice time on Tuesday.

An 8-1 defeat for Hungary to Latvia ultimately meant heartbreak for Josh Samanski & the idle Germans, who closed out their preliminary stage with a 6-3 win over Great Britain on Monday for their third straight win at Worlds, but lost their place in the quarterfinals to Latvia after needing help on the final day to advance.

Germany will host the 2027 IIHF World Championship next year in Düsseldorf and Mannheim.