The IIHF World Championships came to an end on Sunday as the Czechs claimed the gold medal against Switzerland behind some terrific home fan support. It was a very successful tournament as we saw plenty of top quality hockey involving some of the best players in the World from the NHL and other top leagues. While the Swiss ended up with silver, it was still a very impressive showing from the "Playground of Europe." Finishing in third place was Sweden, as they defeated Canada in the bronze medal game. 

Even though both the United States & Canada didn't have their best of the best come, it's always a disappointment if they aren't playing for Gold. The USA just weren't very strong from the opening match. Finishing without a medal, the US ended up losing to the Czechs (who went on to win) in the Quarter-Finals. Don't get me wrong, it was a close game. But, they should be winning that game and moving on. Canada, on the other hand, lost a shoot-out to Switzerland in the Semi-Finals. It was a heartbreak as probably their best player in the tournament, Dylan Cozens, was denied by the Swiss goalie (Leonardo Genoni) to extend the shoot-out, who was excellent throughout the whole tournament. 

Talking about Switzerland, they were led by their NHL superstars. Captain Roman Josi had Kevin Fiala, Nico Hischier & Nino Niederreiter with him as they battled. As mentioned earlier, the goaltender Leonardo Genoni absolutely stood on his head, especially against Canada. It's always difficult to lose in the big one, but this is a team that should be very proud of what they accomplished with the Silver Medal. 

The Czech Republic, led by David Pastrnak, won a battle in that Gold Medal Game. When the Boston Bruins got eliminated from the playoffs, every Czech hockey fan was waiting for the moment that the goal scoring machine would announce that he was coming. Of course, Pastrnak said yes and ended up being the hero for his home country. A goal with just over 10 minutes to go would end up being the game winner and the fans went absolutely nuts. Talk about an awesome experience. Terrific host country. 

Sweden and Finland were disappointed as well, especially the Fins. They actually played each other in the Quarter-Finals, in a game that was decided by an Overtime winner by Joel Eriksson Ek (Minnesota Wild Forward.) Sweden went on the lose to Czechia, but beat Canada to at least stand tall on the podium. With their talent, a goal medal was expected for them as well. Finland however, needs to get back to the top as they didn't look all that competitive in some of the group stage matches. 

With all of this up and coming talent around the World, maybe International Hockey will finally get back to being what it used to be. NHL players are now allowed back in the Olympics (in 2026 and 2030,) which should gain huge viewership once again. Even more of the stars should be out for those events as the Olympics are as big as it gets. However, next year's Hockey World Championships promises to be just as good, if not better than this years. We are in a golden age of hockey right now and it's only going to get better!

Speaking of the "Golden age of Hockey," we're down to the last four teams in the NHL playoffs. Both Conference Finals series are coming down to the wire. As of Thursday, May 30th, here are the odds (via. DraftKings) to win the cup!

Florida Panthers +235
Dallas Stars +255
Edmonton Oilers +275
New York Rangers +370

If I had to pick one of those teams to win at the moment, it would have the be the Dallas Stars at +255. They look very strong and will get to play two of the last three games in this series against EDM at home (if necessary.)