Connect with us

Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings Stecher Wins World Hockey Gold Medal; Seider Named To All-Tournament Team

Published

on

Hockey Canada photo
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Troy Stecher won a gold medal with Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.

The IIHF World Championship is often seen as the Stanley Cup for players who miss the NHL playoffs. Instead of hoisting a silver mug, they don a gold medal. It’s viewed as a method to erase some of the disappointment of a failed NHL campaign.



For the second time in three tournaments, the Detroit Red Wings have themselves a gold medal winner. Wings defenseman Troy Stecher was a prominent presence for Canada as the Canadians edged Finland 3-2 in overtime in the championship game, a rematch of the 2019 gold-medal game.

The 2020 IIHF World Championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the gold-medal game, Stecher logged a game-high 37 shifts and also led all skaters in ice time, skating 27:46. Stecher played 10:22 in the third period alone.

In 2019, Stecher, then with the Vancouver Canucks, was only the losing side of the equation, settling for silver when the Finns downed Canada 3-1. Anthony Mantha, a Red Wings forward in 2019, was also part of Canada’s silver medal-winning squad.

Then-Detroit forward Gustav Nyquist won a gold medal as Sweden beat Switzerland 3-2 in a shootout in the 2018 IIHF World Championship gold-medal game. Nyquist scored a goal in that game. Nyquist, Pavel Datsyuk (2012, Russia) and Niklas Kronwall (Sweden, 2006) are the only Red Wings to score for the gold medal-winning team in the championship game.

Kronwall, who was named the tournament MVP and best defenseman of that 2006 world tourney, picked up a goal and an assist as the Swedes blanked the Czech Republic 4-0. In 2012, Datsyuk posted a goal and two assists as the Russians dumped Slovakia 6-2.

Wings defense prospect Moritz Seider wasn’t as fortunate as Stecher on Sunday. Seider and Germany were upended 6-1 by the USA in the bronze-medal game. The Germans were trying to win their first medal in the event since 1953.

Seider was rewarded for his performance at the worlds with a place on the tournament all-star team.

Subscribe to DHN+