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Jack Berglund, Team Sweden (Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

3 Final Takeaways From World Junior Summer Showcase Week

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Aug 5, 2025 8:55 AM ET

The World Junior Summer Showcase is officially over after a week of practices and exhibition games between Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. There were a lot of penalties called, goals scored, sticks broken, and lost pucks over the course of the week. Finland and Sweden tied for first while Canada and the USA brought up the rear.

Each team made good and bad impressions, and some players stood out while others struggled. Every player was doing what they could to impress the coaching staff and earn their way onto the big-time roster. In this article, we’ll take a look back at the week and some key takeaways, starting with the players who stepped up the most.

Koivu & Berglund Lead the Way

There were a lot of high-caliber players at this showcase, but the ones who made the biggest impact were from Finland and Sweden. Aatos Koivu from Finland and Jack Berglund from Sweden tied for the top in points for the showcase. They both played in five games and had seven points; they were easy to spot every time they were on the ice. They had the speed, finesse, and overall skill to stand out.

There’s no doubt they’ll be on their respective teams in December, and they’ll be relied on to produce like they did in the showcase, and even more. While they were able to score, they were even more impressive on the power play, which led to their team’s successes, including Finland taking the win over Sweden.

Apart from Koivu and Berglund, there were a couple of other players who stood out but didn’t make it as high on the scoresheet like Canada’s Michael Hage and USA’s James Hagens. They didn’t play as many games as the others, but they still put up a decent amount of points. Hage had five points in four games, and Hagens had five points in three games. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle it when December rolls around.

Sweden & Finland Show They Mean Business

Everyone knows they have to keep an eye on Canada and USA when it comes to any kind of international hockey tournament, and this showcase was no different. Finland shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since they were in the last gold medal game and in overtime too, so it was a close-fought battle with evenly matched talents.

However, teams can lose players from year to year, but Finland has quite a few returning players and very skilled ones, too. Although Koivu wasn’t on the roster last season, he most certainly will be this season, and every team will have to be on the watch for him because he’s a strong scorer, especially on the power play, as stated above.

While Finland showed they still have what it takes to win even at “summer hockey”, Sweden had a very strong showing as well. Berglund stepped up big, along with several other players who carried the team. They are a heavy-hitting team that can wear the other team down but also score goals. It’ll be interesting to see how their game translates in December.

Bodies Were Thrown Around

While Sweden was the heaviest-hitting team among the four, every team threw their bodies around, and it wasn’t just the normal check to get the puck; it was glass-shaking, board-crunching hits. There was a lot of emotion behind those hits, along with players trying to prove their worth and make their respective rosters.

Canada had the most composed hits, their game continued to flow, and it didn’t really stop the progress of the game, as some do. Unlike the Finland/USA game on Friday, August 1, which had almost as many penalties as it did goals. Nearly every other whistle through the first two periods felt like a penalty was being called, and most of them were roughing calls.

Luckily, it didn’t get too ugly in any of the games, but it got very close. The referees were very busy getting in between players and stopping them from going too far. Many times, the yelling could be heard up in the pressbox of the officials saying “no, stop,” etc. Something that isn’t typically heard during other games because the arenas are a lot larger.

December may seem like a long time from now, but summer is winding down quickly, and fall will be here before anyone knows it. Then the regular hockey season will be starting up, and not long after that, the tournament will be underway. It’ll be interesting to see if USA can defend their gold medal and earn a third straight or if there will be a new winner in 2026.