Bruins rack up honors at 2025 Worlds

It's not anything close to the same thrill as the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we all know, but the Bruins competing at the 2025 Worlds made sure to make their last bit of hockey for the 2024-25 season count.

And for the team with the most B's reps, the springtime tourney ended with a bang not felt in nearly a century for the Americans.

Led by a 25-save shuout from Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman, Team USA broke their drought and captured gold at the Worlds for the first time since 1933 with a 1-0 overtime win over Switzerland.

With the win, the 26-year-old Swayman finished the tournament with a perfect 7-0-0 record, along with a 1.69 goals against average and a .921 save percentage, for Team USA. The tournament was a strong finish to what was an undeniably tough year for the first-year full-time starter, and should be enough to keep Swayman locked in as the USA's No. 3 goaltender behind Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck and the Stars' Jake Oettinger for the Olympics next year.

Elsewhere on Team USA, Andrew Peeke appeared in all 10 games for the Americans during this tournament, and finished with one goal, three points, and a plus-8 rating while being a rock-side rock for the club. Peeke, who had a career-high 16 assists and 17 points this past season, is entering the final year of a contract that comes with a $2.75 million cap hit.

Mason Lohrei, meanwhile, made his five-game run count with one goal and three points, along with a plus-4 rating, before exiting the lineup. There was radio silence when it came to Lohrei's departure from the lineup, but it would stand to reason that it was injury related, as Lohrei was actually skating as one of the team's top defensemen (and offensive weapons) prior to exiting play. The good news? Lohrei was out there, and in uniform, for the celebration.

Over on Team Sweden, Bruins center Elias Lindholm parlayed his strong finish to the NHL season with an impressive run for Sweden at the World Championship, with a tournament-leading eight goals in 10 games.

Lindholm also did his part to earn Sweden a medal, with two assists and wins in five of his eight faceoffs in a 6-2 win over Denmark for bronze on Sunday, and was named to the Media All-Star Team for his 14-point tournament.

All things considered, you have to be happy with Lindholm's performance at the Worlds considering he was on the fence about even going in the first place when we heard from him on break-up day. If Lindholm can continue to thrive with David Pastrnak like he did at the end of the 2024-25 season, that's one less thing the Bruins have to worry about when it comes to Lindholm's fit.

Czechia could not pull off a run to become back-to-back champions, but that did not stop David Pastrnak from having himself a whale of a tournament showing, with a tourney-leading 15 points for his country.

Pastrnak was named to both the Media All-Star Team and also captured the IIHF Directorate Award as the tournament's top forward.

Elsewhere on the Czechia roster, Jakub Lauko skated for his home country of Czechia for the first time since the 2020 World Juniors, and finished his tournament with a shorthanded goal and an assist in seven appearances.

But perhaps the best news of the tournament for a Bruins-centric perspective came with yet another strong showing put forth by Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis, with four goals and six points in seven games for Latvia.

Locmelis, who finished his pro season with three goals and 12 points in six games for the P-Bruins after leaving UMass, even got kudos from Penguins captain and Team Canada legend Sidney Crosby after a head-to-head.