The Australian U20’s men’s team, the Mighty Bucks, win a silver medal at IIHF World Championships Division 2B in 2026. In an exciting 2026 tournament, the Mighty Bucks improved on their 2025 showing by finishing second place in Division 2B, claiming a silver medal.
Warm up to 2026 Tournament
Australia warmed up for the 2026 Worlds with a team camp and two game warm-up series in Hungary. The Mighty Bucks enjoyed a 100%-win rate for the two warm-up games, defeating Hungarian side Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák 4-3 and New Zealand 9-7.
Oz Hockey Media caught up with new head coach Jason Kvisle after the victories ahead of the tournament proper in Serbia. Jason had just one thing on his mind:
“Win”
With that expectation were set high for the tournament.
The Tournament
The Mighty Bucks arrived in Belgrade looking to improve on their 2025 result. The team finished the 2025 tournament with 2 wins and 3 losses, leaving them in fourth place. Coach Kvisle thought that was a slight underachievement of what the team was capable of.
Bright Start
This year, a very young Australian team was aiming or higher. Things could not kick off better for the Aussies. A game against a familiar opponent in New Zealand presented a very winnable opening. The Mighty Bucks took the opportunity with both hands, delivering a big 13-1 victory.
Stumble
Australia was up and running and on its way to meeting its goals. Game two saw the Aussies come up against the top team in the division, the Netherlands. It was unclear if the gulf between the division 1 relegated team and Australia would be too large for the Aussies to overcome. Unfortunately, the Netherlands proved their class and ran up 8-1 winners.
Game three had Australia playing the host nation, Serbia, in front of a large crowd. It was a very even game between the two teams, but the home ice advantage came to the fore in the end and Serbia secured the win 6-4.
The tournament was quickly beginning to feel and look like 2025 more and more. Game four saw the Aussies correct the slide and disappointment of the last two games with an important 5-1 win against Israel.
Big Finale
The mood in camp lifted and the self-belief returned for the final game. It was a tough one too against Iceland. Australia had lost the race for first place and promotion to the dominant Netherlands but second place and a silver medal was up for grabs.
The fifth and final game got off to the worst start possible for the Mighty Bucks. Down 2-0 at first break and down 3-0 at the second break. It looked like second would be out of reach for the Aussies. But then Australia dug deep and kicked into gear and a massive comeback was launched. Clawing the game back to 4-5 with 10 minutes to go in the third, a 2-goal stanza in 43 seconds with Thomas Garas scoring the winning goal was a sucker punch to Iceland. After finally taking the lead, Australia held strong till the final buzzer and celebrated not only a win but a silver medal for the tournament.
The Future
After a successful tournament, next year we could totally see the Australian team competing for Division 2B victory and promotion to Division 2A. A lot will depend on player availability and location of the tournament. If the Aussies can keep most of the team together and have a good preparation like this year, then a confident push could be on.
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