The pair of Winnipeg Jets’ prospects participating in the 2026 World Junior Championship (WJC) captured the tournament’s ultimate prize and looked good doing it.
Boumedienne & Freij Excel For Sweden
The pair of Swedish defensemen, Sascha Boumedienne and Alfons Freij, were key contributors in helping Sweden capture the country’s third gold medal in WJC history and first since 2012.
Both defenders were tapped for top-four roles on Sweden’s blue line in Minneapolis-St. Paul and helped them go a perfect 7-0-0 in the annual tournament and only allow 16 totals goals. They saw ample time on the man advantage that was lethal in operating at a 43.48 per cent clip (10 for 33).
Boumedienne, the Jets’ 2025 first-round pick (28th overall) most notably scored what ended up being the gold-medal game winner at 3:47 of the third period — his perfectly placed one-timer put Sweden up 3-0 Monday night and proved to be the difference as Czechia scored two late in a furious comeback attempt that fell short.
The 6-foot-2 left shooter created plenty of offensive chances for his teammates throughout the tournament and moved the puck extremely well, recording two goals and two assists for four points in seven games along with a plus-4 rating.
“This is what you’ve been dreaming of as a kid, and I can’t even describe the feeling,” Boumedienne said after the gold-medal game. “It was pretty crazy. I went so crazy I feel there. I couldn’t keep my balance. That was nuts,” he continued about celebrating his eventual game winner.
“We’ve known each other since we were young kids, so doing this with all these guys is really special and doing this for our country is really cool,” he continued.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Sweden’s Golden Win Over Czechia
Freij, the Jets’ 2024 second-round pick (37th overall) was an assist machine, quarterbacking the power play and racking up seven in seven games along with a plus-5 rating. The 6-foot-1 left shooter had the primary assist on the game-opening goal in the gold-medal game and also picked up a pair of apples in the 6-3 quarterfinal win over Latvia, one of which was the primary assist on a Boumedienne power-play marker.
The 19 year old finished tied for third in points among defensemen, trailing only Canada’s Zayne Parekh (14) and Czechia’s Tomas Galvas (9).
Their performances were a much-needed ray of hope for Jets’ fans as their team is currently in dead last in the NHL and on a Jets 2.0 franchise-long nine-game losing streak after winning the Presidents’ Trophy last season. They open up a five-game homestand Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights one day after general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff held a midseason press conference that didn’t inspire much confidence they will be able to turn things around in the second half.
What’s Next For Boumedienne & Freij?
After enjoying their celebrations, it will soon be back to business for both prospects.
Boumedienne will return to Boston University to continue his second campaign there. The 18 year old, who will be eligible to play in the 2027 WJC in Edmonton and Red Deer, has two goals and four assists for six points in 17 games along with 23 blocked shots and a minus-9 rating for the Terriers.
Freij will return to his home country to continue his season with Timra IK in the Swedish Hockey League. He has two assists and a minus-1 rating in 25 games there, so while the offensive numbers don’t jump off the page whatsoever, the fact he’s still a teenager and already playing in Sweden’s top professional league is impressive in and of itself. The experience he gained against players much older and more experienced clearly served him well at the WJC.
