Seven Bruins Advance to 2026 IIHF World Championship Quarterfinals
The preliminary round of the 2026 IIHF Men’s World Championship has concluded and the tournament will move on to the quarterfinals.
The eight teams that advanced to the quarterfinals include Team USA, Team Canada, Team Finland, Team Czechia, Team Switzerland, Team Sweden, Team Norway, and Team Latvia.
The quarter-final matchups are SET 🔥 #MensWorlds #IIHF pic.twitter.com/PZXAOkW1Up
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 26, 2026
Among the teams, seven Bruins will be competing in the quarterfinals. Forward James Hagens, forward Alex Steeves, and defenseman Mason Lohrei are on Team USA’s roster while forward Fraser Minten is on Team Canada, goalie Joonas Korpisalo and defenseman Henri Jokiharju are on Team Finland, and forward Matěj Blümel is on Team Czechia.
Bruins forward Lukas Reichel was on Team Germany, but the team did not make it out of the preliminary round as the team finished in fifth place in Group A with 10 points.
Team Finland and Team Czechia will open the playoffs at 10:20 a.m. ET on Thursday morning followed by Team USA vs. Team Canada at the same time. The two winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday.
On the other side of the bracket, Team Switzerland will take on Team Sweden and Team Norway will play Team Latvia, both at 2:20 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. The winners will play in the semifinals on Saturday.
The two winners of the semifinals will play in the gold medal game while the losers will play in the bronze medal game on Sunday. The teams will be reseeded prior to the semifinals.
The top four teams in each group were the teams that continued in the tournament. After the preliminary round, Team Switzerland led the charge for Group A with 21 points, followed by Finland in second with 18, Latvia in third with 12, and the United States placed fourth with 11.
In Group B, Team Canada led the preliminary round with 20 points, followed by Norway with 15, Czechia with 13, and Sweden came in fourth with 12.
The teams that did not advance include Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Great Britain in Group A and Slovakia, Denmark, Slovenia, and Italy in Group B.
As for individual stats, Reichel had the most goals among Bruins players in the preliminary round with four as well as had four assists for eight points. Jokiharju had the most assists with six. He also scored a pair of goals and tallied eight points as well as a +7 rating.
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Kim Rankin is one of the lead writers for Boston Bruins on SI and Boston College On SI. A 2020 graduate of the University of Alabama. she joined Alabama Crimson Tide On SI in February 2024 covering baseball, softball, football, men’s basketball, and more for BamaCentral, but has also contributed to Missouri Tigers On SI. She previously worked as the brand manager at Tide 100.9 FM in Tuscaloosa, Ala. She has covered a wide variety of events including SEC Championships, NCAA Regionals, and bowl games.