Czechia tops Sweden in 14-round shootout to win bronze

Czechia defeated Sweden 3-2 after a 14-round shootout Sunday to secure the bronze medal at the 2025 world juniors.

Captain Eduard Sale sealed the victory with a slick backhand move.

The 28-shot shootout was the longest in IIHF history, besting a 22-round effort between Kazakhstan and Norway at last year's men's Under-18s. The previous world junior record was 14 rounds.

Sale also scored in the bottom of the 13th round to keep Czechia alive after Sweden went ahead. This marked the Seattle Kraken prospect's third world juniors. Czechia's medaled in each of them with silver in 2023 and bronze in 2024 after going 17 years without reaching the podium.

Czechia lost to the United States on Saturday to fall to the third-place game. Sweden lost in overtime to rival Finland, extending its gold-medal drought to 13 years.

Tre Kronor have won four silvers and two bronzes over that span but go home empty-handed this year after outscoring opponents 24-10 during an undefeated preliminary round.