The 2026 IIHF World Championships are over, and two of the eight Boston Bruins who were there are leaving with gold medals.
The tournament provides younger players with the opportunity to further their development, namely for James Hagens and Fraser Minten, who are both early in their professional careers. Ahead of the tournament, Marco Sturm talked about how crucial it is to help turn the young players into men, and his past experience coaching Germany at the Worlds provided first-hand knowledge.
Several of the other players who were there had limited roles in Boston, but those expanded with their international team.
Lukas Reichel and Henri Jokiharju each had eight points, leading all Bruins representatives. Jokiharju and Joonas Korpisalo are the two Bruins coming home with additional hardware, and they are adding even more to their trophy shelves after both winning bronze with Team Finland at the Olympics in February.
Here is how the eight players fared in Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland:
TEAM FINLAND – GOLD
Henri Jokiharju (No. 10) – GP: 10; G: 2, A: 6, Pts: 8; +/-: +10, PIM: 6, SOG: 16; ATOI: 18:06
Joonas Korpisalo (No. 70) – GP: 2; Record: 2-0-0; GAA: 0.50, SV%: .947, SO: 1
Jokiharju, after limited ice time in Boston, played top-four minutes for Team Finland at the Worlds. He averaged just over 18 minutes per game and led the team with a plus-10 rating. He was also the third-highest-scoring defenseman in the tournament, falling just behind Roman Josi (SUI) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (SWE). After the gold medal win, he was named to the tournament all-star team.
Jokiharju played on the top two pairs, playing with both Ville Heinola and Mikko Lehtonen.
Korpisalo played in just two games for Finland. He started in their second game, coming against Hungary, and he made nine saves on 10 shots. He also pitched a shutout in Finland’s 4-0 win over Great Britain. Nashville’s Justus Annunen was the starting goalie for the gold medalists.
TEAM CANADA – FOURTH PLACE
Fraser Minten (No. 93) – GP: 10; G: 1, A: 3, Pts: 4; +/-: +2, PIM: 4, SOG: 10; ATOI: 12:38
Minten centered the fourth line for Canada, playing mostly with Philadelphia’s Porter Martone and New Jersey’s Connor Brown. He had three points in his first two games, then recorded one assist in his last eight games, as he set up Denton Mateychuk to open the scoring against Slovenia.
TEAM USA – QUARTERFINALS
Mason Lohrei (No. 16) – GP: 8; G: 0, A: 0, Pts: 0; +/-: even, PIM: 0, SOG: 12; ATOI: 18:27
James Hagens (No. 10) – GP: 7; G: 0, A: 1, Pts: 1; +/-: +2, PIM: 2, SOG: 13; ATOI: 12:42
Alex Steeves (No. 21) – GP: 8; G: 1, A: 2, Pts: 3; +/-: even, PIM: 0, SOG: 18; ATOI: 15:03
Steeves was the only Bruin to score for the Americans, and did so in the USA’s first game of the tournament.
Steeves saw top-line minutes for two games, though Matthew Tkachuk’s addition to the team moved Steeves to the second line for the fourth game. He started the tournament on the third line, played on the first line, and finished the tournament playing on James Hagens’ left wing.
Hagens drew out of the lineup for the USA last week after seeing limited minutes on the fourth line. He only sat for one game and returned as the second-line center. Once he returned, his play increased, even if it did not dent the scoresheet – his assist was for a Matthew Tkachuk empty netter. However, he looked more comfortable down the middle, the position he was drafted to play.
Lohrei, one of two returners from Team USA’s gold medal last year, started playing top-pair minutes next to Justin Faulk, then he finished the tournament on the second pair with Will Borgen. He played big minutes for the United States, ranking third on the team in average ice time, only behind Faulk and Tkachuk.
TEAM CZECHIA – QUARTERFINALS
Matej Blümel (No. 81) – GP: 7; G: 2, A: 2, Pts: 4; +/-: -2, PIM: 0, SOG: 17; ATOI: 16:00
Blümel started the tournament with four points in his first three games. He did not play in Czechia’s second game, but did not miss a game from that point onward. He played on the top line with Lukas Sedlak and Roman Cervenka in three of the first four games, then was moved down for the rest of the tournament.
Blümel played on the fourth line against Norway, and he was on the ice for all four Norwegian goals, finishing with a minus-4 rating. Come the quarterfinals, Blümel was on the second line with David Tomasek and Jakub Flek.
TEAM GERMANY – PRELIMINARY ROUND
Lukas Reichel (No. 73) – GP: 6; G: 4, A: 4, Pts: 8; +/-: +2, PIM: 0, SOG: 15; ATOI: 17:37
Reichel did not play in Germany’s first game, as he was a late addition to their roster. He started on the second line, then moved to the first ahead of Germany’s game against the United States. He had a four-point night against Austria and led the Germans in scoring throughout the tournament.
Reichel scored twice on the power play, a place he got a short look at while playing with the Bruins, and two of his goals were game-winners.
He also had an Olympic campaign, scoring twice and picking up an assist. The Bruins signed him to a one-year extension just before the tournament started.