Pretty surreal’: Anchorage’s Jeremy Swayman feels the reverberations of Team USA’s historic world championship

Nearly five days removed from the most sterling performance of his hockey career, the reverberations are still hitting Jeremy Swayman in waves.

 

Swayman, who was born and grew up in Anchorage, was a sensation in net for Team USA during the IIHF Men’s World Championship.

 

Swayman finished 7-0 with a .921 save percentage in the tournament and earned a shutout Sunday to vault the U.S. to a 1-0 overtime gold-medal victory over Switzerland. It was the first time an American team had earned gold in the tournament in 92 years.

You understand how amazing is to win a championship at the world stage, but then you realize all the history and how it’s been so hard for us to finally pull through, and all the challenges and close games,” he said. “It’s pretty surreal, when you think about it, to be a part of the team that finally overcame the curse.”

 

Swayman, who spends most of his year as the starting goalie for the NHL’s Boston Bruins, said the tournament left him feeling like a new goalie and, in some respects, a new man.

“I think the biggest thing is just gaining experience, and I proved to myself that I could do it,” Swayman said. “I could finally win a championship and say that I’m a champion and know what it takes to be a champion at the global stage. So that was a big piece for me that just lifted a huge weight off my shoulders.”

While he has a deep run into the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals high on his priority list, the 26-year-old said the World Championship gold medal is “a special win” in his young career.

 

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“I’d probably say it tops them all right now,” he said. “I think as bad as I want to be playing in the NHL playoffs, this is a pretty close second to that.”

 

Swayman said he has received dozens of texts from friends, family, former teammates and coaches. Among them was a player who became a legend wearing the Team USA jersey.