2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup: Top standouts as Sweden beats USA for bronze
EDMONTON – After entering the tournament as a favorite to challenge for gold, Sweden will skate away with bronze after beating the United States of America 6-3 in the third-place game at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The victory marks Sweden’s sixth medal in the past seven tournaments, having been eliminated in the quarterfinal last year. The medal is Sweden’s ninth bronze in team history, winning in three times from 2017-21.
Despite the win, the Swedes weren’t the ones who scored first. Instead, Matthew Lansing scored his first of two on Saturday at 1:08 into the game, helping to set the tone. But goals from Melvin Novotny and Jakob Ihs Wozniak helped Sweden take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, giving them momentum they looked to build upon.
Just 1:44 into the second, the Swedes scored again. This time, Eric Nilson managed to beat Ryan Cameron from a difficult angle, ending his night early on the 3-1 goal. The Americans managed to regroup, and at 24:51, Lansing scored his second of the game to cut the lead to just one.
Unfortunately for the United States, a second goal from Nilson took the life away from the Americans. He scored just before the halfway point of the third period, giving Sweden its two-goal advantage back with time ticking down. A second goal from Novotny helped seal the deal and another one from Nilson to complete the hat-trick put the game well out of reach, essentially negating Jesse Orlowsky’s late goal in a 6-3 win for Sweden.
Here’s a look at the top performers from Saturday’s title fight:
USA
#22 Matthew Lansing, C: With two goals in the first half, Lansing came to play today. He’s so quick and skilled and drives the net like his career depends on it. After missing so much of 2023-24, Lansing came to Edmonton with a point to prove – that he deserves serious respect. His performance throughout the tournament showed that he’s so good with the puck and I’m excited to watch him with USHL Waterloo.
#8 Teddy Mutryn, LW: Mutryn got better as the tournament wore on and he figured out how to use his speed to his advantage. Today was his best game because I felt like he was so hard to contain and kept chasing guys down all game long. He got an assist today after some good work to blast past a Swedish defender before eventually getting the puck to Lansing.
Sweden
#30 Love Harenstam, G: I’ve been critical of Harenstam this week, but this was easily his best game of the tournament. Lansing scored two nice goals that he couldn’t have done much on. Beyond that, the Swedish keeper was dialed in and moving as confidently as we’ve seen from him. I thought he was a bit scrambly throughout the tournament, but he was tracking pucks as well as I’ve seen from him.
#26 Eric Nilson, C: Nilson scored a bit of a fluky goal from a brutal angle early in the second to give Sweden a two-goal advantage. Fortunately, that wasn’t all, as he scored two goals in the third period to help put the game well out of reach. I knew he was fast, but I don’t recall him hustling this hard before. He’s got a ton of skill and hasn’t had a chance to really display it here but I think he played his best game of the tourney today.
#27 Melvin Novotny, RW: I can’t say I noticed Novotny much in this tournament, but scoring two goals will help. The skilled winger was just in the right spot at the right time multiple times today, and he was much more involved on the puck than what we’ve seen from him.
#11 Jakob Ihs Wozniak, LW: After a decent showing yesterday, this was, easily, his best of the tournament. JIW scored the first Swedish goal on a nice tip effort and followed it up with a close look a few minutes later. It was still a disappointing tournament from him for the most part, but this was the type of game I wanted to see from him – just more engaged.
#16 Viggo Bjorck, C (2026): Given all the hype surrounding Bjorck for 2026, I felt like he was quite invisible for the most part in this tournament. Today, I thought his positioning was better, he was in more dangerous spots on the ice and was moving his feet much better. I thought his chemistry with Ihs Wozniak, in particular, was noticeable.