Jenner, Marchenko and Werenski talk Blue Jackets return from NHL break
Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner, forward Kirill Marchenko and defenseman Zach Werenski talk returning from injuries, 4 Nations break
Tage Thompson scored the overtime game-winning goal to secure the U.S. men’s hockey team’s first world championship gold medal in 92 years.Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski played a key role for Team USA, earning a spot on the tournament’s all-star team.The U.S. team honored the late Johnny Gaudreau, a former Blue Jacket, by carrying his jersey during the trophy presentation.Team USA overcame a strong Swiss team and goaltender Leonardo Genoni, who set a new world championship record for consecutive shutout minutes.
It didn’t take a miracle, but it did require Tage Thompson’s golden goal to finally end a 92-year gold medal drought for USA Hockey at the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championships.
Thompson’s goal 2:02 into a 3-on-3 OT on May 25 at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, lifted the U.S. over Switzerland, 1-0. The only other time the U.S. has worn gold medals after a world championship in a non-Olympic year was 1933, and 1950 was the last time the Americans even played for gold.
Blue Jackets star Zach Werenski, one of the U.S. alternate captains, was named to the tournament’s all-star team. When the championship trophy was awarded, Werenski carried late teammate Johnny Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey.
He and the team’s other captains held it in front of the trophy. They smiled and posed for photos before Clayton Keller (Utah Mammoth) hoisted the trophy amid a confetti shower. It was a picturesque, poignant way to celebrate the end of a long drought while also remembering Gaudreau, a Blue Jackets forward who starred for the U.S. in the 2024 World Championship just a few months before he was killed along with his brother, Matthew, while riding bikes on Aug. 29, 2024 in New Jersey.
Werenski finished with one goal, five assists, six points and a +9 plus/minus rating in the seven games he played.
Initially planning to sit out this year’s tournament to let his body recover after leading the NHL in ice time, Werenski changed his mind about a week before the preliminary round. He missed the first three games, including a 3-0 loss to Switzerland on May 12, but eventually joined a lineup powered by young NHL talent.
He provided leadership and stability on the blue line, running the top power-play unit from the point and soaking up a lot of important minutes. Werenski was on the ice to start 3-on-3 overtime in the gold medal game, which turned out to be a goaltending duel between the tournament’s two highest-scoring teams.
Leonardo Genoni, playing in his 11th world championship with Switzerland, broke former Swedish star Pekka Rinne’s modern world championships record for consecutive shutout minutes by going 243:26 without allowing a goal prior to Thompson’s winner, and U.S. goalie Jeremy Swayman (Boston Bruins) stopped all 25 shots he faced.
This U.S. championship isn’t on the same level of importance as the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” gold medal at the Winter Olympics or the Americans’ 1996 World Cup championship, but it does carry significance.
Since forming the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Michigan, American hockey has grown into an international power at all levels other than men’s world championship teams. The U.S. has traditionally struggled at worlds on the men’s side for multiple reasons, but the biggest has been a lack of interest from NHL players not keen on spending a month in Europe after their NHL season concludes.
Canada and European teams don’t tend to have that issue. This U.S. team, however, bucked the odds despite icing the tournament’s youngest roster.
Their biggest advantages were having Swayman, one of the NHL’s top goalies, plus a bevy of championship experience with a group of young stars who’d recently won world titles for the U.S. at younger ages. The U.S. also took Canada to overtime in the gold medal game of the NHL’s best-on-best 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February 2025, which Werenski led in scoring.
That run prompted calls among some U.S. NHL players for more top players to join the men’s world championship team. It didn’t result in a flood of U.S. stars signing up, but USA Hockey did get enough veterans to join its elite group of young stars that they finally ended the dry spell.
It wasn’t easy.
Switzerland entered the game riding an eight-game winning streak, which included five shutouts. The Swiss hadn’t allowed a goal since finishing first in Group B — ahead of the U.S. — during the preliminary round. After shutting the U.S. out the first time in Group B play, Genoni shut them out through three more regulation periods.
Thompson’s wrist shot in 3-on-3 OT finally gave the U.S. its only goal of the tournament against the Swiss, but that’s all the red, white and blue needed for gold.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
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Story updated to add photos.