We entered the winding down phase today/yesterday, with playoffs to determine the remaining spots and semifinals occurring. More narratives played themselves out for individual players and we had one last look at teams’ strengths before we get into the true high stakes matchups and one final examination of the squads who had their tournaments come to a close. Let’s go through ’em all one last time before the bronze and gold medal games tomorrow:

Fifth place playoff: Slovakia 5-2 Germany

The biggest standout moment of this performance was that, on the goal tallied by Andreas Straka (Quebec Remparts, 2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible), the Slovakians had one of the most fundamentally sound and impressive cycles of the tournament, which was also one of the most impressive team power play shifts. I was also impressed by Adam Goljer’s ability to stay with the play and remain situationally aware on his goal, as the 2026 Draft eligible forward of Dukla Trencin’s U20 team stayed with the play and recognized he had an immediate scoring chance after his shot initially struck G Lukas Stuhrmann (Kölner Haie, 2025 NHL Entry Draft class) in the mask and the whistle correctly not being blown due to this fact, as was recognized on the broadcast. I think a big takeaway that they should have as a group is that a lot is within their grasp in terms of being offensively gifted and skilled players. I hope that this group is kept together long-term for more international tournaments and we see this specific “platoon” at other stages such as the WJC and wherever else. They can do some pretty impressive things together if they are kept in tact and allowed to follow their natural dev curve.

We got one last look at the inherent Griva twin chemistry, as well, as they combined for Germany’s second goal (Richards with the tally, Gustavs with the helper). I think as is, they’re going to have impressive careers even if they are separated from one another with their particular general talents and forms of awareness (though it will also be interesting to see them develop chemistry with other players). That said, part of me also hopes that they end up following the same path as the Sedins before them and we get to see just how far that combination can go continuing to grow alongside one another and seeing their intrinsic feel for one another’s tendencies develop alongside their hockey IQs. I was really blown away by these two in this tournament and I hope it doesn’t end when they make the jump to the North American professional environment.

Seventh place playoff: Finland 5-2 Switzerland

I had to miss this one, but the stat box shows that Finland generated a high number of shots and tallied their most goals of the tournament (even when subtracting their empty-netter and the goal that came after it in the dying seconds). Creating offense was, as was anticipated, a struggle for this group to this point, making this game an extreme outlier. I doubt that this will be standard for their program in the long run. This is just an ebb and flow of development classes sort of deal. We’ll see what happens for the Finnish hockey in the landscape in the long run when it comes to offensive development. The pedigree there is very good and I have to imagine that the landscape will change again someday soon.

With Switzerland, my only closing remarks are that I have to repeat that I can see both Jovin Trachsel (who stopped 35 of 39 in this matchup) and Matia Birchler as professional goaltenders and that Swiss hockey is on the rise. They didn’t have the showing that they wanted, but better finishes at tournaments such as this are on the horizon. You won’t have to wait long to see it.

Semi-final 1: Czech Republic 5-1 Sweden

The dominant line of Viktor Klingsell, Ivar Stenberg (Frölunda HC, 2026 NHL Entry Draft eligible), and Milton Gastrin (MODO Hockey, 2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible) accounted for the one goal tallied by Sweden, which opened the scoring for the matchup as Gastrin capitalized on a Czech mistake in the neutral zone and turned that turnover into a “never in doubt” scoring opportunity that Klingsell finished. After that, though, the Czech weapons seemed to be capable of doing whatever they wanted, with Benak yet again a key piece of the puzzle as he sniped one at a very tight angle with one of the most impressive shots I’ve seen this calendar year at any level off a power play faceoff and also set up a perfect pass from along the goal line for a primary assist on another man advantage. He also had plenty of other impact shifts despite having sustained some big hits in this matchup. It would be Vit Zahejsky, however, with the most points via 2g+1a, as the Czechs had a dominant performance as a group from effectively beginning to end despite allowing the first goal (Sweden also caught a bad break due to having one called back due to a kicking motion, which was the correct call by the book, but probably demoralizing).

The Czechs have a talisman in Benak, but can get it done by other means given some of the unlikely help that they can get (see: D Tomas Malinek [HC Sparta Praha, 2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible] having a phenomenal bar down shot for his first of the tournament in this game) and the consistency of some of their other pieces, such as Zahejsky and Adam Novotny. Sweden, on the other hand, might have leaned too strongly on their dominant first unit, a position held by the TSN commentary team and can be reinforced by statistics. The Czechs may or may not win in the gold medal game tomorrow/tonight, but you can see it happening. Sweden, meanwhile, despite (or perhaps because of) the impressive star power they have in a top heavy manner, will have to compete for the bronze medal.

Semi-final 2: Canada 5-1 USA
Despite the final scoreline (aided by an absolutely ridiculous long-bomb of an empty netter by Luca Romano which was effectively assisted by Jack Ivankovic making a terrific save), fair stretches of this actually were a tale of two goalies in my eyes. Ivankovic did what he has done game in and game out this tournament, exhibiting both poise and athleticism, but the focus of Ryan Cameron (Long Island Gulls, 2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible) also impressed me, including on some strong high danger opportunities against elite scoring threats. Ultimately, though, the more explicitly skilled roster would prevail. Matthew Schaefer put in another masterclass wherein he was steadily reliable in his role at snuffing out the offensive guns and which included an assist as part of the power play cycle that Cameron Schmidt finished after an unusual bounce and would’ve featured another one on a slot pass to Benjamin Kindel were it not negated by goaltender interference which did not directly affect the scoring play but was nevertheless correctly called. Despite strong showings by Schaefer (who rightfully earned player of the game for Canada) and Gavin McKenna (who created a number of good looks for himself and finished things off with a power play tally with 14 seconds remaining), it was Cole Reschny who had the most impressive individual play of the game. While McKenna had made a similarly impressive play with the puck on the same shift/OZ possession, Reschny would be the one to come up with it, beat multiple players, create his own time and space, and finish it with a phenomenal release. This extension of his team high mark in points complemented a game in which he yet again looked great on the draw as the 1C and did exceptional board work yet again. He really is putting in a terrific all-around performance in this tournament. I’d be remiss if I did not also commend Brady Martin (Soo Greyhounds, 2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible) for the vision he exhibited when he sprung Alex Huang for a goal as the latter exited the penalty box. It was a very high IQ play in such a quick-thinking setting. It was a reminder of the processing abilities of some of these Canadian players, in addition to their obvious talent.

The USA, despite not being its top strength version of itself here as is standard at the Hlinka, showed plenty of promise with this group. I thought the goal by Sam Spehar (Sioux Falls Power, committed to University of Denver, 2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible) exhibited his puck carrying skills and was a fantastic representation of what that group can do chemistry-wise in the means by which they created the odd-man rush. The final score doesn’t indicate how well they went blow-for-blow throughout much of the game. It is representative of the trajectory of USA Hockey as a whole outside of just the US NTDP that this group did so well. You can’t count them out against Sweden for the bronze medal, which would be their second in a row. Meanwhile, we have Canada vs. the Czech Republic for the gold medal in a rematch of last year’s overtime settled showdown. Canada is motivated by a three-peat which would mark their longest grip on the gold since their monopoly that lasted from 2008 through 2015 (as part of their legacy as overwhelmingly the most accomplished team at the tournament, which had the name of The Great One from Brantford, Ontario, who carved out his legacy in Edmonton, affixed to it 2018) until it was finally disrupted by a fifth place finish in 2016. Incidentally, this marked the only time the Czechs have won the ultimate prize in this tournament, which, since 2007, bears the name of one of their country’s most iconic sportsmen, Ivan Hlinka, a legendary player and coach in his lifetime. The Czechs, meanwhile, have revenge on their minds. It is interesting that this matchup can be defined by rosters, with Canada having an edge on paper in depth, but Czechia has been perhaps somewhat surprising at times with what their group can do as a whole, yet it can also be defined by “Who has the superior individual?” It does count for a lot that Matthew Schaefer and Adam Benak have the capability of being the best player on the ice in any given game, as that sort of thing can give a tremendous edge even when outmatched on paper. This game may even come down to who has the better game between the two. It should be an exciting matchup to close things out at this well-contested tournament.

Medal day schedule:

Bronze medal game: Sweden vs. USA – 3:30 PM ET

Gold medal game: Czech Republic vs. Canada – 8:00 PM ET