Wilson Björck climbed to the mountain top at the biggest U20 hockey tournament and is now taking the confidence from that win into his rookie NCAA season with Colorado College.
“It’s been a few weeks since the final, but it still is just so crazy. You don’t really understand how big it is for our country and obviously for us players too,” said Björck when asked how great his experience was at the World Junior Championships.
“It’s been so much fun in the past few weeks, and it was just an amazing experience. We had a lot of talent in our group, but, as I said before the tournament, it was important for us to get the chemistry and all that stuff. That was one of the best teams I have ever been on. I enjoyed every day being around those guys.”
Sweden had an incredible semi-final game against their biggest rivals, Finland, and the game ended in a back-and-forth shootout that ultimately went to Sweden.
Björck had more minutes in that game than any other in the tournament that he played in and had a good chuckle when talking about the experience.
“That was probably the craziest game I ever played in,” said Björck. “From the first drop of the puck to the final shootout shot, it was just amazing, and something I will never forget.”
The recently turned 20-year-old said that it has always been a dream of his to see the Swedish flag be raised in front of thousands of fans and said it was an incredible feeling for him to get the opportunity to play on that team and be a part of Sweden winning their first gold medal at the World Juniors since 2012.
Wilson’s brother, Viggo, is a top prospect in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, and the two brothers were teammates for Sweden. Wilson said it was amazing that his mom and dad were able to attend all the tournament games, and having his brother by his side for the whole tournament was incredible.
Now, back in Colorado, Björck is hungry to continue winning. His goal is to make the playoffs and then make a push for the NCAA’s Frozen Four.
In his return to NCAA competition, Colorado picked up an overtime win with Björck snagging the assists on the game-winning goal. He had a funny moment before being able to celebrate the goal, as he was randomly selected to be one of the players who were drug tested.
“It was bad timing,” he said with a big laugh. “I just had to go pee for them really quick and then get back in the locker room as fast as possible to celebrate the overtime goal.”
Blending into the NCAA has been a smooth process for Björck this season. He mentioned that his Colorado teammates were happy for him to win a gold medal, but also mad because he didn’t bring it back to school with him.
