Canucks forwards Conor Garland and Drew O’Connor helped make American hockey history when they and their Team USA mates won the 2025 Men’s Ice Hockey World Championship with a 1-0 overtime win over Switzerland on Sunday.
It was the first Gold Medal for the Americans since 1933 and only their second since the event began in 1920. In 1960, Team USA was deemed the world champs based on winning the Winter Olympics Gold Medal at Squaw Valley, California.
The championship was exclusively reserved for amateur athletes through 1976.
This time around the Yanks took care of business on ice, with their route to the title assisted by Canada’s shocking elimination at the hands of the Danes in the quarterfinals.
Garland played more than 17-minutes in the Gold Medal game, posting a single shot on goal, after scoring the game winning goal in the 2nd period of the semi-final against Finland two nights before. The Massachusetts native also opened the scoring against the Finns at the 4:50 mark of the 1st period in the 5-2 victory.
Garland finished the tournament with five goals and five assists while O’Connor added a goal and three assists as mainly a 4th-liner.
O’Connor, a big left winger acquired in February by the Canucks along with D-man Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins, played 31 games for Vancouver and tallied nine points. He has two years remaining on a contract that pays him $2.5-million per season.
Garland enters the final year of a deal that will pay him $4.95-million this season. He’s averaged a smidge under 20 goals and 50 points per season for the Canucks since joining the club full time via trade in the summer of 2021.
