Team USA World Juniors Team wins back to back gold medals

Owen Oxton, Journalist • January 14, 2025

Team USA wins back to back gold medals to start 2025. (Photo created with Canva AI)

As 2025 has begun the USA World Junior Hockey team has won gold for their second consecutive year making them a powerhouse for young NHL prospects.

Danny Nelson from Notre Dame played a huge role on Team USA as he scored 4 huge goals. (Picture used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

James Hagens prepares to take a face-off while playing for Boston University. (Photo used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

Team USA captain Ryan Leonard won MVP of the tournament. (Photo used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

Team USA was led by captain Ryan Leonard who was drafted by the Washington Capitals and currently plays for Boston University alongside James Hagens and Gabe Perrult(NYR). The assistant captains were Oliver Moore(CH) from Minnesota and Danny Nelson(NYI) from Notre Dame.

As the tournament went on team USA went 5-1-1 with a loss to Finland but beat them later on in the gold medal game. The team was faced with many difficult games like the well-known rival Canada but USA came out with a huge win in Canadian territory. USA also played a very tough team from Latvia that upset Canada in a shootout but once again USA came out on top. The resilience through tough games really made USA fun to watch and helped them win these huge games.

Trey Augustine prepares to stop puck while playing a Michagen St. (Photo used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

Austin Burnevick prepares to catch a pass while playing for St. Cloud State. (Photo used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

Lane Hutson from Boston College prepares to take faceoff for the NTDP. (Photo used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

Some players who stepped up big for Team USA was Lane Hutson(WSH) who put up 11 points during the tournament which made him the first defenseman ever to lead the tournament in points, Gabe Perrult(NYR) also had a great tournament as he led Team USA in goals and put up 10 points. James Hagens who is linemates with Perrult put up 9 points which will help boost his status in this year’s NHL draft. Zeev Buium(MW) put up six points alongside playing great defense which was a huge part of the team’s success. Ryan Leonard won tournament MVP, and lastly, Trey Augustine (DTW) who was great between the pipes and kept Team USA in the game at all times.

Assistant coach Brett Larson walks out walks to the locker oom after a huge win at St. Cloud State. (Photo used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

Zeev Buium prepares for a faceoff whle playing for the NTDP. (Photo uses with permissin from Andrew Ritter)

Cole Eiserman carries the puck down the ice while playing for the NTDP. (Photo used with permission from Andrew Ritter)

Another reason Team USA has been having such great success is because of their fabulous coaching staff. The head coach David Carle has been a popular name lately as he helped Team USA to back-to-back gold medals. Carle also coaches Denver’s college hockey team where he also finds great success as his time is ranked in the top 5. The assistant coaches Brett Larson, Steve Miller, and Garret Raboin have also played a huge role in leading Team USA to be dominant.