photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
We’ve seen it happen before. A team comes into the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, gets off to a great start, and the snowball starts to roll until it becomes an unstoppable force.
What we haven’t seen is the team being Norway.
Almost nothing could stop them in Zurich.
“I thought we played great in our first game against Slovakia, we just couldn’t bury our chances and lost the game but then showed that we could win the games we expected to win, against Slovenia and Italy, and that felt good,” said Norway’s forward Jacob Berglund.
However, the opening-game loss was the only time Norway stumbled in the tournament.
“After the overtime loss to Canada, I could tell we had a great thing going,” said Berglund, “and then beat both Sweden and Czechia.”
The momentum was enough to carry them to a historic first IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship medal, not simply a quarterfinal berth — after all, the last time Norway did that was in 2012.
“We knew we could play anyone, and beat any team here,” Berglund added.
NHL Draft success
Confidence alone won’t win you World Championship medals. But confidence and talent? That’s another matter.
In the last 15 years, only thirteen Norwegians have been drafted to the NHL, but in the last two years, the number is six.
Five of them were on the Worlds roster in Zurich.
“The mentality has changed [compared to last year]. The young guys are a year older, and they’ve really taken steps forward,” said Berglund.
“I feel we have a good generation coming up. We have a lot of young players that are taking hockey seriously and see we're getting better and better,” said Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the Detroit Red Wings first-round pick in 2024.
He joined the team in Switzerland straight from the AHL playoffs and scored six points in five World Championship games.
“I knew the guys here had done a great job and, when we beat Latvia [in the quarterfinal], I started to think we could go all the way to the end. So that was a lot of fun,” Brandsegg-Nygard said.
They didn’t go all the way, but they did beat Canada in the bronze medal game in overtime thanks to a wicked wrister by Noah Steen — a Tampa Bay Lightning seventh-round pick in 2024.
Change on the bench
Berglund noted another, a more immediate change, too.
The new coaching staff.
Petter Thoresen returned to the Norwegian bench this season after a four-year hiatus.
“I’ve had him four years in Storhamar, so I knew what was coming. He’s funny, and he’s very direct. There’s no ambiguity, no gray zones, it’s all black or white. This is what we’ll do on the ice, this we won’t be doing,” Berglund said.
“It makes things easy for the players because everyone knows what is expected of them, at all times, and that works great when you’re the underdog.”
One bronze medal won’t erase Norway’s underdog status, but it may help raise hockey’s profile in the country famous for its skiers.
“Hopefully winning this medal, and everything else, hockey will get bigger in Norway and we’ll get more players,” said Brandsegg-Nygard.
When the team landed back in Oslo, thousands of fans were waiting for their historic heroes in the arrivals hall and 27,000 more waiting at Ullevaal Stadium to celebrate them during the halftime of a Norway–Sweden soccer match.
An old Jahn Teigen hit from 1989 was playing over the speakers.
Its title? “Optimist.”
What we haven’t seen is the team being Norway.
Almost nothing could stop them in Zurich.
“I thought we played great in our first game against Slovakia, we just couldn’t bury our chances and lost the game but then showed that we could win the games we expected to win, against Slovenia and Italy, and that felt good,” said Norway’s forward Jacob Berglund.
However, the opening-game loss was the only time Norway stumbled in the tournament.
“After the overtime loss to Canada, I could tell we had a great thing going,” said Berglund, “and then beat both Sweden and Czechia.”
The momentum was enough to carry them to a historic first IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship medal, not simply a quarterfinal berth — after all, the last time Norway did that was in 2012.
“We knew we could play anyone, and beat any team here,” Berglund added.
NHL Draft success
Confidence alone won’t win you World Championship medals. But confidence and talent? That’s another matter.
In the last 15 years, only thirteen Norwegians have been drafted to the NHL, but in the last two years, the number is six.
Five of them were on the Worlds roster in Zurich.
“The mentality has changed [compared to last year]. The young guys are a year older, and they’ve really taken steps forward,” said Berglund.
“I feel we have a good generation coming up. We have a lot of young players that are taking hockey seriously and see we're getting better and better,” said Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the Detroit Red Wings first-round pick in 2024.
He joined the team in Switzerland straight from the AHL playoffs and scored six points in five World Championship games.
“I knew the guys here had done a great job and, when we beat Latvia [in the quarterfinal], I started to think we could go all the way to the end. So that was a lot of fun,” Brandsegg-Nygard said.
They didn’t go all the way, but they did beat Canada in the bronze medal game in overtime thanks to a wicked wrister by Noah Steen — a Tampa Bay Lightning seventh-round pick in 2024.
Change on the bench
Berglund noted another, a more immediate change, too.
The new coaching staff.
Petter Thoresen returned to the Norwegian bench this season after a four-year hiatus.
“I’ve had him four years in Storhamar, so I knew what was coming. He’s funny, and he’s very direct. There’s no ambiguity, no gray zones, it’s all black or white. This is what we’ll do on the ice, this we won’t be doing,” Berglund said.
“It makes things easy for the players because everyone knows what is expected of them, at all times, and that works great when you’re the underdog.”
One bronze medal won’t erase Norway’s underdog status, but it may help raise hockey’s profile in the country famous for its skiers.
“Hopefully winning this medal, and everything else, hockey will get bigger in Norway and we’ll get more players,” said Brandsegg-Nygard.
When the team landed back in Oslo, thousands of fans were waiting for their historic heroes in the arrivals hall and 27,000 more waiting at Ullevaal Stadium to celebrate them during the halftime of a Norway–Sweden soccer match.
An old Jahn Teigen hit from 1989 was playing over the speakers.
Its title? “Optimist.”