United States wins first world championship gold medal in 92 years, with Bruins' Jeremy Swayman stopping everything

Boston Globe

26-05-2025

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This moment will go down in history 🇺🇸
— USA Hockey (@usahockey)
Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman (25 saves), who backed the Yanks to a 5-2 win over Sweden in Saturday's semis, sealed the net — the Swiss surprisingly cantankerous around the crease — and wore a smile that could have stretched from Boston to his hometown Anchorage when collecting his gold medal at center ice.
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Following his win on Saturday over the Swedes, an exuberant Swayman noted he had been 'completely rebirthed in a way' by the tournament. He finished 7-0-0 with a stellar 1.69 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage, looking every bit the franchise tender whose play in 2023-24 convinced the Bruins last summer to deal away Linus Ullmark and go the way with 'Sway.'
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Red-white-and-blue Bruins Andrew Peeke and Mason Lohrei also will report to the Bruins training camp in September as first-time IIHF world gold-medal winners.
Fellow Bruins David Pastrnak (Czechia) and Elias Lindholm (Sweden, bronze medal), both of whom led their respective teams in scoring, were named to the tournament's all-star team. Like Swayman, those two forwards will be vital to what team president Cam Neely and GM Don Sweeney hope will be a quick return trip to the playoffs next season after the club logged a DNQ for the first time since 2016.
A handful of US players, led by team captain Clayton Keller (ex- of BU), had their gold medals proudly dangling around their necks as they skated to the Avicii sideboard to receive the tournament trophy.
Before hoisting the chalice high in celebration, though, they first draped it with a Johnny Gaudreau No. 13 Team USA sweater.
'Never to be forgotten,' said play-by-play announcer Gord Miller, whose call was carried by NHL Network.
American players hold the trophy and the jersey of the late Johnny Gaudreau after winning the gold medal at the IIHF Hockey World Championship.
Petr David Josek/Associated Press
It was a touching moment to salute the former Boston College star who was killed, along with brother Matthew Gaudreau, when mowed down on their bicycles by an alleged drunk driver on August 29 — the eve of their sister's wedding.
Warsofsky, the 37-year-old coach of the Sharks, played at Marshfield High as well as a post-grad year at Cushing Academy prior to a college playing career that took him to both Sacred Heart and Curry.
He began his coaching career as a Curry assistant in the fall 2012 and eventually was hired to be the Sharks bench boss last summer. Now the former Marshfield Rams backliner is a golden South Shore boy.
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'Tears of joy for Ryan, his players and family,' Dan Connolly, Warsofsky's coach at Marshfield texted to a Globe reporter early in the evening. 'Unreal . . . 92 years!'
Connolly recalled that Warsofsky, a natural defenseman, often swung up to forward in games for double duty with the Rams. Sometimes, noted the coach, it meant logging back-to-back shifts at forward and defense, a break, and then a double shift on the blueline.
'He didn't miss much time on the ice,' noted Connolly, who is still coaching at Marshfield.
Early in Sunday's action, 5:38 into the second period, the US was awarded a penalty shot, with Blackhawk rookie forward Frank Nazar blatantly hooked while bearing down on the Swiss net. As Nazar prepared for the free attempt, planning to race in from center ice, he was called over to the bench by Warsofsky, who decided he wanted fellow Bay Stater Conor Garland to take the shot.
Garland, the veteran Canucks forward from Scituate, calmly tracked in on Genoni, pulled the puck from backhand to forehand, and saw his doorstep five-hole stuff attempt erased by the alert 37-year-old Swiss netminder.
It was an emotional loss for the Swiss squad. Not among the world's hockey elite, the watch makers never have won a 'Worlds' gold medal. They also lost to Czechia (and Pastrnak) in last spring's gold game and were runner-up to powerhouse Sweden in 2013 and 2018.
A smattering of their fans, decked out in red sweaters, openly wept in the Avicii stands. Overtime, 1-0. So close. Again.
Had they beaten the Yanks on Sunday, the booster shot of national pride might have encouraged more Swiss youth to take up the game. It happened here 45 years ago when Team USA, captained by Winthrop's Mike Eruzione, beat the mighty CCCP and eventually captured Olympic gold at Lake Placid.
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Another day, perhaps.
Swayman, who sat and watched from the USA bench as a backup to Connor Hellebuyck in February's 4 Nations Face-Off, no doubt bettered his chances to be part of the America's next Olympic squad (Italy '26). Jake Oettinger, still in the playoffs with Dallas, also will be in the mix.
Jeremy Swayman stopped all 25 shots on Sunday to help the United States win the IIHF Hockey World Championship gold medal for the first time since 1933.
Petr David Josek/Associated Press
It was a long, hard winter for Bruins fans, likely few of whom spent the Memorial Day weekend watching, or even thinking of, the hockey comings and goings on the biggy sheet of ice in Stockholm. No telling what those three gold medals will be worth when Black & Gold hopes spring anew in September. But they can't hurt. After all the pain of this season, it's at least a start.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at