On Jan. 5, the U.S. national hockey team won the 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship in Ottawa, Canada. From Dec. 26, 2024 to Jan. 5, Team USA dominated and won the gold medal against Finland with a goal by Teddy Stiga in overtime, leaving the final score 4-3.
Back at the 2024 World Juniors in Gothenburg, Sweden, U.S. Hockey also won the gold medal game against Sweden 6-2. This led the team to their first back-to-back gold medals at World Juniors 2025.
This is U.S. Hockey’s seventh gold medal earned at World Juniors. Team Captain Ryan Leonard was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament as he made five goals and assists throughout the tournament.
The team’s four gold-winning goals came from James Hagen, Ryan Leonard, Cole Hutson and the overtime-winning goal by Teddy Stigas with an assist from Zeev Buium.
The latest World Juniors Winners, in order, are the U.S., Canada, Canada, U.S. and Canada.
Surprisingly for Team Canada, they experienced their first back-to-back elimination in the quarterfinals from 2024 to 2025. With their back-to-back gold medal wins and teams filled with past and future number-one draft picks, their outcome is shocking to Canada and to everyone keeping up with the World Juniors Tournament.
