The 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase (WJSS) in Minneapolis wrapped up on Saturday. The WJSS is a series of exhibition games between Team USA, Team Canada, Team Sweden and Team Finland hopefuls for the next IIHF World Junior Championship. While there are are no medals at stake, the players aim to put their best foot forward. It’s summer hockey but the players compete to win. The games aren’t treated like typical exhibition matches.
Flyers 2024 second-round pick Jack Berglund already had an inside track to a spot on the Swedish national team for the 2025-26 World Juniors. He made the squad a year ago until a hand injury in a pre-tournament exhibition game sidelined him from the WJC. Berglund also spent the entire 2024-25 season at the top pro level in Sweden, splitting time between the SHL and Allsvenskan (Swedish hockey’s closest equivalent to the American Hockey League).
Thus, Berglund’s presence on Sweden’s 2025 Summer Showcase roster surprised no one. What did surprise some was the player’s dominance in the round-robin series of games. Berglund has built a reputation as a big (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) and physically strong center: defensively reliable, heavy stick and diligent in battling for pucks.
The question mark about Berglund, apart from adding quickness to his skating stride, has been his offensive ceiling. At the Summer Showcase, however, Berglund was one of the tournament’s biggest standouts from a scoring standpoint as well as his play away from the puck.
In five games played, Berglund racked up seven points (five goals, two assists). He scored three even strength tallies and a pair of power play goals. This included a glove-side snipe from the right circle against USA Blue in the opener. In the finale against arch-rival Finland, Berglund got Sweden on the board with a power play goal at 13:55 of the first period, as he re-directed a pass from Melvin Fernström. Two of his other goals came off rebounds or scrambles close to the net.
Berglund also showed a feisty and competitive side when necessary. In particular, Berglund was in the middle of several scrums in Sweden’s victory over Team USA. Sweden’s team finished the tourney (4-1-0) as they went unbeaten until the final game.
Berglund wasn’t the only Flyers center prospect who stood out at the Showcase. Harvard-bound Finnish center Heikki Ruohonen had a strong all-around tournament in his own right.
Ruohonen, who played well for Team Finland at last year’s World Junior Championship, finished the 2025 Showcase with five points (1g, 4a) in five games. His goal came in the finale against Sweden, opening the scoring in that game. He often found himself on the ice matched head-to-head with Berglund.