Blues First Round Pick Helps USA End Drought At World Champioship

It wasn’t that long ago that Tage Thompson was part of the long term plans for the St. Louis Blues.

But on Sunday, the No. 26 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft by the Blues helped end a lengthy drought for the United States at the 2025 IIHF World Championship.

Thompson scored the overtime goal, the lone goal of the game, a golden goal in the gold medal game to give Team USA its first gold medal in 92 years with a 1-0 win against Switzerland on Sunday at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

It was the first gold medal for Team USA since 1933, and it’s a full 20-minute period and teams play the NHL’s style of 3-on-3 until a winner is determined.

Thompson skated through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone before wiring a wrist shot from the top of the right circle past Switzerland goalie Leonardo Genoni at 2:02 for the winner:

Blues fans will remember Thompson was a key piece to the trade in 2018 that brought Ryan O’Reilly to the Blues from the Buffalo Sabres along with Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, a 2019 first-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick.

Of course, the Blues will call the trade a win since they went on to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history that very next season, defeating the Boston Bruins in seven games in 2019.

Thompson, 27, has gone on to have a very nice career with the Sabres, reaching more than 40 goals twice in the past four seasons, including 44 this past season and a career-high 47 in 2022-23. 

Thompson spent one season with the Blues in 2017-18, playing in 41 games (three goals, six assists).

Chesterfield native Clayton Keller, captain of the Utah Mammoth, who grew up in Swansea, Il. was also part of Team USA.

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