PEORIA — A kid from the Peoria Youth Hockey Association program delivered an historic moment in United States hockey history on Sunday.
Tage Thompson, who grew up playing in the PYHA program, scored the golden goal Sunday in sudden-death overtime to give USA a 1-0 win over Switzerland in the gold-medal game of the 2025 IIHF World Championship at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
Thompson’s drive at 2:02 of OT sealed USA’s first world championship gold medal in 92 years.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound center-winger is the son of former Peoria Rivermen assistant coach Brent Thompson, who worked with the St. Louis Blues‘ top farm team in Peoria during its AHL era for four seasons from 2005-06 through 2008-09.
Tage Thompson was born in Arizona, but his development in youth hockey was significant during his years with his family in Peoria. He and his brother, Tyce, were fixtures at Rivermen games in Carver Arena, often patrolling the concourse and sometimes skating on the ice there.
Thompson, now 27, scored 44 goals this season for the Buffalo Sabres, but perhaps the biggest goal of his life came Sunday. He was set up on the fly with a pass from Logan Cooley (NHL Utah) and fired a shot from the inside edge of the right circle past the blocker of Switzerland goaltender Leonardo Genoni.
USA won the Olympic gold in 1960 and was technically awarded the world championships trophy that year because the worlds did not take place.
But the last time USA won the world title in competition on the ice was 1933.
“It’s a crazy stat,” Thompson told NHL.com. “It’s something that everyone in that room took to heart. When we got here, we all knew we wanted to be a part of something special, and I think each guy in that room committed, whether you were playing power play, top minutes, or you were in and out of the lineup or not playing at all.
“Everybody was positive, pulling for each other and after one common goal. That’s why we won.”
An emotional footnote came after the game, when Team USA posed for its championship photo at center ice. Players held up a No. 13 jersey of Johnny Gaudreau, the former NHL and USA Hockey star forward who died last August when he and his brother, Matthew, were struck and killed by a vehicle while bicycling on the eve of their sister’s wedding in New Jersey.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.