Connor McDavid nearly did it. Sam Reinhart nearly did it. Ryan Getzlaf was close, and so was Sergei Shirokov. 

But it wasn’t until the United States won Olympic gold last month in Milan that any player could boast to having won gold at all four levels of IIHF play. That distinction is now shared by only Tage Thompson and Clayton Keller. Both sport identical records: Gold at the 2015 Men’s U18. Gold two years later at the World Juniors. An historic gold at the 2025 Men’s Worlds. And now, finally, a gold in Milano.

McDavid and Reinhart both had gold at the first three events and were looking to make it four in Milano, but they had to settle for that heart-breaking silver. Getzlaf won gold at the 2010 Olympics with Canada, but in 2008, at the 100th IIHF celebrations in Quebec City, he had to settle for silver after a tough OT loss in the World Championship final game. Shirokov, meanwhile, won back-to-back silver medals at the World Juniors in 2005 and ’06, thus scuppering his chance to join this elite duo.

In all, only 28 players have won medals at all four IIHF men’s events since the U18 was added to the IIHF calendar in 1999. Apart from Thompson and Keller, only seven have won three gold. Two Finns, Henri Jokiharju and Kaapo Kakko, and American Charlei McAvoy also won three gold—and a bronze. For Jokiharju and Kakko, their chance also ended in Milano, where a gold would have put them in this historic position. McAvoy’s bronze came at the 2018 World Championship.

28 players from five countries

Of these 28, only three are goalies. Kari Lehtonen and Juuse Saros of Finland and American Jake Oettinger. Lehtonen has one gold (WM18), two silver (WM20, WM), and a bronze (OG-M), while Saros has a gold from the 2014 World Juniors, silver from the 2016 Men’s Worlds, and bronze medals from the 2013 WM18 and 2026 Olympics. Oettinger’s only gold came from Milano to go with three bronze medals.

The 28 players come from five countries—ten from Finland; seven from the United States; five from Canada and Russia; and, one from Sweden.

Winning four gold poses challenges for each country. For Canada, gold at the U18 is the stumbling block because many top players are in the CHL playoffs and unavailable for the tournament in April. For the Americans, who win their fair share of junior level tournaments (U18, U20), it’s the senior events that have been very difficult to win. For the Swedes, the opposite—it’s the junior events they don’t win very often. For Finland, they win plenty of medals at all levels, but it’s getting the gold that has proved their greatest Achilles’ heel. 

And the Czechs? Their greatest days were coming to an end just as the IIHF was establishing the U18s, and they’ve had a tough time winning medals at all levels the last two decades, despite their ability to produce many world-class players.

Interestingly, there are only two players on this list of 28 who haven’t won gold at any level. Sweden’s Marcus Johansson has two silver (WM20, OG-M) and two bronze (WM18, WM), and Finn Jussi Jokinen also is two silver (WM, OG-M) and two bronze (WM18, WM20).