Two Vancouver Canucks forwards are taking Team USA to the gold medal game at the IIHF World Championship for the first time in over 90 years.
Team USA's Conor Garland and Drew O'Connor took on Canucks teammate Marcus Pettersson and Sweden in the semifinals of the 2025 World Championship on Saturday, with the duo of forwards defeating the defenceman.
In fact, it wasn't particularly close.
Team USA was all over Sweden in the opening period, outshooting the host country 13-to-3. Brady Skjei opened the scoring on one of the more innocent-looking of those 13 shots, a point shot through traffic that former Canuck Jacob Markstrom never saw until it was in the net. Then, Cutter Gauthier extended the lead to 2-0 before the end of the first period, finishing off loose puck in the slot after Will Smith created a rebound.
Garland got in on the scoring in the second period with some gritty work down low. Garland outbattled Emil Heineman behind the net to keep possession of the puck, then got position on Adam Larsson in front to push a rebound past Pettersson's stick in the crease.
CONOR GARLAND JUST DOESN'T STOP 😤 #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/PdAh8pg2rZ
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 24, 2025
The goal was quintessential Garland, and it not only gave Team USA a 3-0 lead but also stood up as the game-winner once Sweden finally pushed back in the third period, though by that point Sweden was down 4-0 after a rush goal by Mikey Eyssimont.
Goals by William Nylander and Elias Lindholm gave Sweden a spark midway through the third, but that spark was swiftly snuffed out by a goal from Jackson Lacombe to make it 5-2. Shane Pinto added an empty-net goal from his own blue line to seal the game away.
Of the three Canucks in the game, Garland made the most notable contribution. His goal brings him to 5 goals and 10 points in 9 games, which ties Markus Näslund and Elias Pettersson for the most points by a Canuck in a single World Championship tournament, with one game remaining for him to break that record.
O'Connor was back on the fourth line after a couple of games in a top-six role and had a quiet and unremarkable 13:05 in ice time. He provided the net drive for Eyssimont's 4-0 goal and was on the ice for Lindholm's 4-2 goal. In fact, he was the American skater closest to Lindholm as he shot the puck, but that was because of a breakdown by his teammates, as Lindholm wasn't his man.
O'Connor was also one of the skaters entrusted to defend at 5-on-6 when Sweden pulled Markstrom for the extra attacker and was on the ice for Pinto's empty-net goal.
As for Pettersson, he ended up in a lesser role than he had played up until that point in the tournament. He played more minutes in the first period, but saw his ice time diminish in the second and third as Sweden's more offensive-minded blueliners got more ice time to push for the comeback.
Team USA will move on to the gold medal game against Switzerland on Sunday. The Swiss have had an outstanding tournament, and dominated Denmark in their semifinal. The Danes couldn't repeat their upset performance against Canada, as Switzerland crushed them 7-0. It was a full team effort, as 13 Swiss skaters got on the scoresheet, led by Nino Neiderreiter's two goals.
Pettersson and Sweden will play for bronze against Denmark, also on Sunday.
Team USA will be looking for their first gold medal since 1960. In fact, the 1960 gold came in the Winter Olympics, which doubled as the World Championship that year. The last time the U.S. won gold in a non-Olympic year was 1933. The last time they were even in a gold medal game was the following year in 1934, 91 years ago.
Meanwhile, Switzerland is trying to win their first-ever gold medal at the World Championship. Unlike the U.S., the Swiss have made it the the gold-medal game multiple times in recent years, settling for silver last year and also in 2018 and 2013.
