Sweden is back on top of the junior world.

For the first time since 2012 — and just the second time in the last 44 years — Sweden captured gold at the World Junior Championship, defeating Czechia 4–2 in a nailbiting final in Minnesota.

The victory capped off a perfect 7-0-0-0 tournament from the Swedes and delivered a long-awaited gold medal to a program that had often fallen just short on the biggest stage.

Vancouver Canucks‘ Wilson Björck, a 2025 fifth-round pick, earned his first international medal, joining the gold-medal lineup despite being in and out of the line leading up to the game.

Björck, 19, skated 5:55 in a fourth-line role. Over three tournament appearances, his role was limited, averaging fewer than six minutes per game and registering just a single shot on goal.

Unlike the earlier bronze-medal game — which featured a flurry of goals between Canada and Finland — the gold-medal final was far more controlled, with both teams struggling to find first blood.

Sweden did open the scoring, striking while shorthanded at the 14:46 mark of the first period on a delayed penalty. Casper Juustovaara pushed the puck up ice before having his stick slashed out of his hands. The play stayed alive as Jack Berglund danced past a Czech defender, was initially denied by the goaltender, and stayed with the puck long enough to draw coverage. Juustovaara, having just recovered his stick, jumped back into the play and buried the opener.

That goal stood as the lone tally until midway through the second period, when Sweden capitalized on the power play. After Ivar Stenberg’s point shot created chaos, Berglund collected his second assist of the night by finding Victor Eklund at the side of the net to make it 2–0.

Sweden took control early in the third. Stenberg — a projected top-three pick in the 2026 NHL Draft — backed defenders off through the neutral zone before gaining the line, cut back to walk the blue line and dishing to Sacha Boumedienne. The defenceman stepped into his stick and blasted a shot past the Czech netminder to give Sweden a commanding three-goal cushion.

Game over, right?

That goal would prove massive, and to the Czech’s credit, they didn’t go quietly.

With the goalie pulled late in regulation, Adam Jiříček ripped a heavy one-timer to cut the deficit to two and give his team some late-game life. Czechia sustained pressure over the next two minutes, generating multiple quality looks and forcing Sweden into survival mode.

With just 23 seconds remaining, Matěj Kubíša uncorked another one-timer from the left side, beating the Swedish goaltender over the glove to bring the game within one.

But despite all that momentum, that was as close as it would get.

With Czechia pressing for the equalizer, Stenberg sealed the championship by firing the puck into the empty net, locking in a 4–2 victory and sending Sweden into celebration.

For Sweden, the win ends a long gold-medal drought. And for Björck, it marks the first piece of international hardware of his career, achieved alongside his younger brother, Viggo. He’s the first Vancouver Canuck prospect to win a gold medal since Toni Utunen (2018 round 5, 130th overall) did with Finland back in 2019.

Gold, at last, belongs to Sweden.