Sweden Hands Team USA 6-3 Loss in Prelims Finale, U.S. Heads to Quarterfinals Reid, Zellers, Stiga score for the Americans as Sweden’s special teams and rush chances tilt the night in Saint Paul

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Team USA closed preliminary round play at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship with a 6-3 loss to Sweden on New Year’s Eve at Grand Casino Arena, finishing second in Group A and turning the page to the quarterfinals.

Chase Reid, Will Zellers, and Teddy Stiga supplied the goals for the Americans, but Sweden controlled too many sequences through the middle of the game and made its power play count.

“We came out with good energy in what was a terrific atmosphere here tonight,” U.S. head coach Bob Motzko said. “We have to clean up the turnovers and that’s something we’ll focus on as we get set for our quarterfinal game.”

The U.S. had early chances to flip the night in its favor. Less than five minutes in, LJ Mooney had a point-blank look that rang off the post. Later in the opening period, Ryker Lee forced a turnover in the offensive zone and broke in alone, but Swedish goaltender Love Harenstam held his ground and turned the shot away.

Sweden broke through shortly after, taking a 1-0 lead when a puck deflected off Logan Hensler’s skate in front and slipped past U.S. goaltender Brady Knowling.

From there, the second period became the separating stretch. Sweden made it 2-0 early in the frame on the power play when Eddie Genborg finished a cross-ice pass from Liam Danielsson. A few minutes later, Lucas Pettersson ripped a wrist shot from the right circle to push the margin to 3-0.

Reid got the U.S. on the board at 8:55 of the second, stepping into a quick wrist shot from the point after collecting a rebound and sending it through traffic.

Sweden answered with its biggest swing of the night. Pettersson struck again, this time shorthanded, finishing a two-on-one to make it 4-1. Then, with 4:45 left in the period, Genborg scored his second power-play goal, this one at the back door, to extend the lead to 5-1.

The Americans found one more response before intermission. After James Hagens and Brodie Ziemer were denied in tight, Zellers drove the crease and batted home a rebound to cut it to 5-2 with 3:16 remaining in the second. Zellers was later named U.S. Player of the Game.

Team USA pushed again early in the third. On a power play, Mooney sent a firm saucer pass from the half wall to Stiga in the slot, and Stiga redirected it into the top right corner to make it 5-3.

Any comeback hopes ended on a Swedish two-man advantage. With 6:43 left in regulation, Ivar Stenberg finished a backdoor feed from Jack Berglund to restore a three-goal cushion at 6-3.

Knowling made 23 saves over the first two periods, and Nick Kempf played the third and stopped 14 more. Sweden finished with a 43-31 advantage in shots. The U.S. went 2-for-6 on the power play, while Sweden went 3-for-4.

With the preliminary round complete, the Americans finish Group A with a 3-0-0-1 record and will play Friday, Jan. 2, in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. CT at Grand Casino Arena against either Finland or Czechia. The game will air live on NHL Network.