Former University of Maine goalie Jeremy Swayman had a respectable performance in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships in Finland but the Americans failed to medal. The team lost to eventual gold medalist Finland 4-3 in the semifinals and then to the Czech Republic 8-4 in the bronze medal game Sunday.
The 23-year-old Boston Bruins goaltender played in seven games and posted a 2.23 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. He was second among 19 goalies in shutouts with two and his 2.23 GAA was seventh-best.
It was his first time playing in the World Championships, although he played on the 2017-18 USA World Junior Championship team.
Strauss Mann, a former University of Michigan goalie who was signed by the San Jose Sharks after playing in the Swedish Hockey League this past season, started the first three games for Team USA and went 2-1.
Swayman got his first start in the fourth game and made 17 saves to shut out Great Britain 3-0.
He then made 20 saves in a 3-2 overtime win over Sweden in which he opposed his Boston Bruins netminding partner Linus Ullmark. Ulmark finished with 21 stops.
The former UMaine first team All-American, Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick finalist and Mike Richter Award winner (nation’s best college goalie) made 15 saves on 16 shots in a 1-0 loss to the Czech Republic and stopped all nine shots he stopped in the first period of a 4-2 win over Norway before Mann played the final two periods.
Swayman then shut out Switzerland 3-0 with a 33-save performance before stopping 22 shots in the 4-3 loss to Finland and 25 in the 8-4 loss to the Czech Republic.
The Alaska native allowed seven goals including three to Bruins teammate David Pastrnak in the bronze medal game. The Czechs scored an empty-net goal.
Swayman appeared in 41 games for the Bruins this past season and finished with a 23-14-3 record, a 2.41 GAA and a .914 save percentage. He faltered in the last month of the regular season so Ullmark started the first two games of their Stanley Cup series against Carolina.
Carolina won both games so Swayman started game three in the TD Garden and was the starter for the rest of the series.
He went 3-2, winning all three home games, and had a 2.63 GAA and a .911 save percentage.
The Bruins’ fourth round draft pick in 2017 (111th overall) played in only one period in the 2020-21 playoffs as Tuukka Rask’s backup after going 7-3 with a 1.50 GAA and .945 save percentage during the regular season.
