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Mission Possible - June. 27, 2025 - Vol. 78, Issue. 12 – Carol Schram

AS IT RUNS CONCURRENTLY with the Stanley Cup playoffs every spring, the World Championship can be an afterthought for many North American hockey players and fans.

That wasn’t the case for Johnny Gaudreau. Before his untimely passing last summer, ‘Johnny Hockey’ suited up for Team USA’s senior men’s squad five times in his 10-plus years as a pro. His final event came in Czechia in 2024, where he logged 11 points in eight games to pass Patrick Kane and become the tournament’s top American point producer of all-time.

It couldn’t have been more fitting that the 2025 U.S. team kept Gaudreau’s jersey in a stall in their dressing room, just as the World Junior Championship team did before winning gold in Ottawa this past January.

And after the American men snapped a 92-year gold-medal drought with a 1-0 overtime win over Switzerland in Stockholm, Zach Werenski raced to the dressing room to ensure that Gaudreau’s jersey was part of the team’s historic photos. “He kind of embodied USA Hockey,” Conor Garland said. “Anybody that played with him will speak so highly of him. Tragic event, but we were thinking of him.”

Three years younger and similarly small in stature, Garland grew up idolizing Gaudreau in Scituate, Mass., just southeast of Boston. He met the Boston College legend once during a campus visit, but Garland’s road to the NHL didn’t end up running through a Div. I school. Instead, as a 5-foot-8, 160-pound 16-year-old, he joined the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats in the fall of 2012 – and became a scoring machine in his own right.

After being passed over in his first year of NHL draft eligibility, Garland had 129 points in 2014-15, earning him MVP honors in the QMJHL and a share of the CHL scoring title along with Dylan Strome. Garland was then selected in the fifth round (123rd overall) by the Arizona Coyotes. He followed that up with 128 points in 2015-16 to join Sidney Crosby as the only other player to lead the CHL in scoring twice.

From there, Garland spent two-and-a-half years in the AHL. But once he earned his first call-up to the Coyotes in December of 2018, he never looked back.

In 2019-20, Garland eclipsed 20 NHL goals before the season was put on pause. The following year, he matched his previous-best point total of 39 and earned his first invitation to don the Stars and Stripes.

At the 2021 World Championship in Latvia, Garland led the Americans with 13 points in 10 games, was named to the tournament all-star team and came home with a bronze medal. He returned in 2023, wearing an ‘A’ when the tournament was held in Finland and Latvia. And this year, his familiarity with coach Ryan Warsofsky lured him back to compete again. “He’s from my hometown, and his parents live right down the street from me, so I know them very well,” Garland said. “He’s probably one of the main reasons I went over there after the season. I had never had him as a coach, but he’s an exceptional coach. Young, really smart and very passionate.”

The 2025 U.S. roster also featured stars like Clayton Keller and Tage Thompson, who were looking to bolster their cases for Olympic roster spots after being snubbed at the 4 Nations Face-Off. And when building out the tournament’s youngest roster, GM Jeff Kealty included players like Frank Nazar, Cutter Gauthier and Will Smith, who had won gold at the WJC and wouldn’t feel intimidated about chasing the big prize.

Utah Mammoth's American Players Wins Gold At 2025 IIHF World Championships For the first time in 92 years, Team USA has won the gold medal at the 2025 IIHF World Championships.

Garland was named part of the leadership group along with Keller as captain and Thompson and Brady Skjei as fellow alternates. He was excited by Warsofsky’s determination to bring home the gold. “It’s kind of an elephant in the room that we haven’t won this thing since 1933,” Garland said. “He just addressed it, that this is a team they put together that has championship aspirations.”

HE JUST ADDRESSED IT, THAT THIS IS A TEAM THEY PUT TOGETHER THAT HAS CHAMPIONSHIP ASPIRATIONS – CONOR GARLAND

After starting the tournament on a line with Nazar and his Vancouver Canucks teammate Drew O’Connor, Garland was eventually moved up to the top line to skate with Logan Cooley and his old Coyotes running mate Keller.

The Americans opened with shutout wins over Denmark and Hungary but were then shut out themselves by Switzerland and forced to overtime by Norway. Those were the only hiccups through a gruelling gauntlet.

They finished the round-robin with convincing wins over Germany, Kazakhstan and the defending-champion Czechs. But despite a second-place finish behind the Swiss in Group B, a tough quarterfinal matchup lay ahead in Stockholm. “Finland was a really hard defensive team,” Garland said.

But Garland scored a pair of power-play goals and earned player-of-the-game honors in a 5-2 win that set up a semifinal match with the host Swedes.

Jumping out to a 4-0 lead through two periods, the Americans quieted the crowd on their way to eliminating Sweden by a 6-2 score.

In the final, they again faced Switzerland – the same tight-checking group who had dished out Team USA’s only round-robin defeat. Longtime Swiss national-team netminder Leonardo Genoni, fully on top of his game, squared off against Jeremy Swayman at the other end of the ice. Both goalies were sensational through regulation time, stopping everything they saw to send the final to 3-on-3 overtime.

It took just 2:02 for Thompson to strike for the golden goal, unleashing a rocket wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle off the rush. “I didn’t actually see it,” Garland said. “I was up next, so I was just sitting down. I think I might have been the only guy sitting on the bench. But I saw it after, and it was an unbelievable release. Not many guys are going to score from out there.”

There’s no better feeling for a pro athlete than hoisting a championship trophy. For Garland, receiving it from Keller made the moment even more special. “To have your best friend, the best man in your wedding, pass you the World Championship cup after we won is something I’ll never forget,” he said. “It was something I would never even have dreamed would happen, so it was awesome.”

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