ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sweden captured its third world junior hockey title Monday night, defeating Czechia 4–2 in the gold-medal game of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship—the first all-European final at the tournament since 2016.
Goals from Casper Juustovaara and Viktor Eklund in the opening period set the tone for Sweden, which also received a third-period goal from Sascha Boumedienne to extend the lead to 3–0.
“It was time for a gold, and we did it,” said Sweden forward Antron Frodell, who was selected third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks last summer. “It’s amazing. We’re a big family. We love each other. We did the right things for the team to win.”
Czechia responded with goals from Adam Jiricek and Matej Kubiesa, the latter scoring with 24 seconds remaining to briefly pull his team within one. Sweden sealed the victory moments later when Ivar Stenberg scored an empty-net goal with eight seconds left.
“I think Sweden played better from the beginning,” said Czechia head coach Patrik Augusta. “Our legs weren’t going and the game against Canada took a lot of energy from us, not just physically but mentally. We were looking for a spark, and it didn’t come until the last couple of minutes.”
The title adds to Sweden’s previous world junior championships in 1981 and 2012. Czechia’s lone titles at the tournament came in 2000 and 2001.
Canada takes bronze
Earlier Monday, Canada national junior ice hockey team defeated Finland national junior ice hockey team 6–3 in the bronze-medal game.
Sam O’Reilly scored twice, while Gavin McKenna recorded a goal and three assists and Michael Hage added four assists. Defenceman Zayne Parekh finished with a goal and an assist, setting a Canadian world juniors record for points by a defenceman with 13 on the tournament (six goals, seven assists).