Often the World Junior Championships’ bridesmaid and rarely the bride, Sweden broke through Monday at the Grand Casino Arena, capturing its third gold medal and first in 14 years with a 4-2 victory over Czechia.

Sweden, which featured a dozen players who will be eligible for a return at the next WJC, entered Monday’s contest at 1-10 in gold medal games since 1992 and has the most silver medals (12) of any country since the event’s 1977 inception.

Sweden Ivar Stenberg (15) hits Czechia forward Samuel Drancak (29) in the face with his stick during the first period of an IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal game, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

“We had a lot of energy and spark from shift to shift,” said Swedish coach Magnus Havelid, whose country won the world U18 championship in 2022 and provides roughly 70 NHL players annually. “For us it’s about teamwork, and you have to believe it, not just talk about it.

“Other countries have more stars and more players, but we need role acceptance and we work on that early.”

The Swedes led, 3-0, with three minutes remaining before Czechia scored twice in two minutes with goaltender Michal Orsulak pulled for an extra attacker. Ivar Stenberg, projected as high as the second-round pick in the 2026 NHL draft, scored the final goal of the first all-European final since 2016 into an empty net.

“The last goal was amazing,” Stenberg said. “We had been nervous, but I saw all the guys so happy, so I was so glad. We’ve been here like four weeks and we’ve worked for this every moment. We were going for it and did everything to get the gold.”

Samuel Drank, Victor Eklund and Casper Juustovaara also scored for the undefeated victors while Adam Jiricek and Matej Kubiesa struck for Czechia. Jakub Fibigr had two assists for the runners-up, who medaled for a fourth consecutive year. Sweden’s Love Harenstam made 27 saves while Orsulak stopped 31 shots.

“He’s so focused and got good help from the defensemen,” Havelid said of Harenstam. “He goes game by game and keeps his focus on the next shift, on the next touch. He was amazing the whole tournament.”

Sweden scored the first period’s lone goal. Shorthanded and also down a player who’d had his stick slashed in half, the Tre Kronor nonetheless produced a charge through the offensive zone by Jack Berglund, who split a pair of defenders between the circles and got off a shot.

The rebound kicked left, and Berglund swung it behind the net and fed it back out at the right post, whence Drancak scored.

The Swedes doubled their lead midway through the second period. Stenberg’s shot from center point struck defender Fibigr and dropped to his feet. Berglund swatted it toward the left post and an unguarded Eklund scored easily. At period’s end, the Swedes held a 29-11 shot advantage.

“We were a bit overhyped against (Canada), and that probably bit us a bit at the beginning of this game,” said Czech forward Vaclav Nestrasil. “But we showed in the last five minutes that we can compete.”

Czechia pulled within 3-2 on a pair of one-time slap shots from the left circle by Jiricek and Kubiesa. The Bohemian Lions had a number of other chances, but the Swedes closed ranks around Harenstam and made it difficult to get more shots through to the net.

“So many mixed emotions,” said Swedish defenseman Sascha Boumedienne. “This is what you’ve been dreaming of since you were a kid. We’ve known each other since we were young kids, so doing it for our country and for each other is really special.”

A notable difference in the countries’ development strategies can be noted in the fact that Czechia has 17 players who compete for Canadian junior teams, while Sweden — where youngsters prefer to compete in their nation’s highly regarded top league — has none.

“I felt like at some parts of the game we played against adults, not even like system-wise, but their physiques,” said Czechia coach Patrik Augusta, a 1992 NHL first-round draft pick who played only four games in that league. “They’re strong, great skaters and you can tell that a lot of their players are playing in the men’s league in Sweden.

“We have great hockey players for a small country. I know sometimes back home it’s saying that they’re leaving too early, but I think we should be proud that they’re leaving even if they’re 15 or 16 years old.”

Said Czech forward Vaclav Nestrasil: “Even though we didn’t win the gold medal, we showed we’re going to be in here, battling for it every single year. Guys in our locker room are going to be back fighting because they know the feeling of losing, and nobody wants to feel that twice.”

Czech forward Vojtech Cihar was named the tournament’s most valuable player after leading the event in scoring with four goals and eight assists.

Canada 6, Finland 3

The Canadians, favored for the gold medal before the tournament began, eased some of their frustration at losing in the semifinals with a bronze-medal triumph.

Canada beat Finland for the second time in the tournament, as the teams were both in Group B for pool play. The Canadians have won 36 WJC medals, six of them bronze.

Canada’s Sam O’Reilly had two goals, Michael Hage produced four assists and Gavin McKenna had a goal and three assists. Carter George made 32 saves.

Zayne Parekh had a goal and an assist to break the Canadian record for WJC points by a defenseman with 13 on six goals and seven assists. Alex Pietrangelo had 12 in 2010.

Finland, which trailed, 3-2, after a period, received single goals from Julius Mitten, Heikki Ruohonen and Arttu Valila. Petteri Rimpinen stopped 28 shots.

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The Gophers football team has lacked a reliable big target at wideout, and Auburn transfer Perry Thompson might fill that hole for the 2026 season. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound wideout committed to Minnesota on Monday.

“Gopher nation let’s ride,” he wrote on X after visiting the U campus.

Thompson had 17 receptions for 154 yards across 12 games in his sophomore season for the Tigers last fall. He had five grabs for 126 yards and one touchdown in 10 games as a true freshman.

With two years of eligibility left, Thompson will join the receiver room for new position coach Isaac Fruechte. Minnesota’s No. 1 target, Le’Meke Brockington, was a senior last season, and returning quarterback Drake Lindsey needed more options on top of Jalen Smith and Javon Tracy in 2026. Both of them are smaller receiver types than Thompson.

Thompson, a composite four-star recruit out of Foley, Ala., was considered a top 30 receiver in the transfer portal class, per On3.com. He entered the portal a few days after new Tigers head coach Alex Golesh took over at the SEC program.

Thompson was the sixth overall commitment to the U this week.

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Grace Grocholski had game-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds, and Mara Braun added 14 points, but Minnesota lost to No. 9 Michigan on Monday, 70-60, at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Olivia Olson had 21 points, and Mila Holloway added 12 points and seven rebounds for Michigan, which improved to 12-2 overall, 3-1 in the Big Ten.

The Gophers (10-4 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) outrebounded Michigan 35-33 and turned 14 turnovers into 12 points, but Grocholski and Braun were the only players to score in double figures for Minnesota, which shot 38.6 percent from the field and had only eight total assists.

Minnesota led 19-10 after one period, and was up 29-28 headed into intermission. The Wolverines regained a slim lead in the third period, then scored the first seven points of the fourth to take a 51-43 lead and never trailed again.

Minnesota pulled within 57-53 on Grocholski’s pull-up jumper with 4:18 remaining, but Te’Yala Delfosse answered with a 3-pointer and the Wolverines slowly pulled away.

The Gophers are host to Northwestern on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Williams Arena.

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President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it’s planning to tighten rules for federal child care funds after a series of alleged fraud schemes at Minnesota day care centers run by Somali residents.

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesman also reiterated the funding is on hold to all states until they provide more verification about the programs.

The plans to change the policies came the same day that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee who has said the Trump administration is politicizing the issue, announced he’s ending his reelection campaign.

Here are some things to know about these moves:

Rule change plans announced

Health and Human Services announced Monday that it plans to change federal rules around the program, which serves lower-income families. As of last year, it was subsidizing care for about 1.3 million children.

Among the proposed changes: It would allow states to pay providers based on attendance rather than merely enrollment and pay providers after care is delivered rather than in advance.

“Paying providers upfront based on paper enrollment instead of actual attendance invites abuse,” Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement.

When advanced payments were required in a 2024 rule change, officials said it would make child care centers more likely to serve families that use the subsidies.

Most states received waivers to delay implementing parts of the 2024 rules and many did not start the advance payments immediately.

Rule changes usually take at least several months to make and include a public comment period.
More verification needed for all states to get child care funds

All 50 states will have to provide additional levels of verification and administrative data before they receive more funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, according to an HHS spokesperson.

Minnesota will have to provide even more verification for child care centers that are suspected of fraud, such as attendance and licensing records, past enforcement actions and inspection reports.

In his social media post last week, O’Neill said all Administration for Children and Families payments nationwide would require “justification and a receipt or photo evidence” before money is sent.

That announcement came after a right-wing influencer posted a video last month claiming he had found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud.

The departments that administer the programs in California, Georgia, Iowa, Oregon and Washington all said Monday that they have not received guidance on how to comply with the requirements O’Neill announced.

Cindy Lenhoff, director of National Child Care Association, warned Monday that pausing payments to providers could cause some to close, and keep parents from being able to work.

“Withholding funds from complaint providers will not fix fraud,” she said. “It will only destabilize an already fragile system.”

Walz says Trump is politicizing the issue

Several Democrats including Walz accused Republicans of playing political games, and Walz doubled down Monday when he announced he would end his reelection campaign.

“Even as we make progress in the fight against the fraudsters, we now see an organized group of political actors seeking to take advantage of a crisis,” he said.

Walz touted the state’s efforts to crack down on fraud over the last several years, including with the help of the federal government. But now, he said the Trump administration’s move to withhold child care funding from the state shows “they’re willing to hurt our people to score cheap points.”

“They and their allies have no intention of helping us solve this problem, and every intention of trying to profit off of it,” Walz said.

Minnesota child care centers are alarmed

Maria Snider, director of the Rainbow Child Development Center and vice president of advocacy group Minnesota Child Care Association, said last week that fear is rising among families — many of which are living paycheck to paycheck — and child care centers that rely on the federal funding.

Without child care system tuition, centers may have to lay off teachers and shut down classrooms, she said.

The Administration for Children and Families provides $185 million in child care funds annually to Minnesota, according to Assistant Secretary Alex Adams.

Ahmed Hasan, director of the ABC Learning Center that was one of those featured in the video by the influencer, said on Wednesday that there were 56 children enrolled at the center. Since the video was posted, Hasan, who is Somali, said his center has received harassing phone calls making staff members and parents feel unsafe.

He said the center is routinely subject to checks by state regulators to ensure they remain in compliance with their license.

“There’s no fraud happening here,” Hasan told The Associated Press. “We are open every day, and we have our records to show that this place is open.”