Four Blackhawks Prospects Win WJC Gold With Team USA

Four top Blackhawks prospects will be returning from the 2024 World Junior Championship with gold medals.

Forwards Frank Nazar III, Oliver Moore and Gavin Hayes, and defenseman Sam Rinzel were all held off the scoresheet in Team USA's 6-2 win over Team Sweden in the tournament final on Friday in Göteborg, Sweden. 

Isaac Howard, a 2022 Tampa Bay Lightning draftee and sophomore at Michigan State, scored two goals for the high-powered Americans who went 7-0-0 in this year's WJC and won the event for the sixth time.

Nazar, a sophomore for Isaac's arch-rival Michigan Wolverines, had the most impressive tournament among the Blackhawks prospects. One of three Chicago first-round draft picks in 2022 (13th overall), Nazar finished with eight assists and was a plus-9. The 5-foot-10 center played 14:50 and had one shot on goal in a final contest that finished with a messy on-ice fracas as tempers flared.

Selected 25th by the Blackhawks in 2022, Rinzel had 14:11 of ice time and four shots. Moore, his speedy freshman roommate at the University of Minnesota, skated 11:33. He was picked 19th overall in 2023, behind Connor Bedard in the first round.

Hayes slipped to 13th forward on Team USA's depth chart after being penalized for kneeing earlier in the tournament. A third-round pick in 2022, the OHL Flint Firebirds winger skated only four shifts on Friday.

Led by current NHL rookies Bedard and defenseman Kevin Korchinski, five Blackhawks on Team Canada won WJC gold last year. Defensemen Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allan, along with forward Colton Dach are skating this season for Rockford of the AHL.