ST. PAUL, Minn. — The result wasn’t what Finland wanted, and Captain Aron Kiviharju didn’t try to pretend otherwise.

After a shootout loss to Sweden ended Finland’s gold-medal hopes, the captain stood in the media room and spoke with the perspective of someone who understood both the disappointment and the moment.

“I think you said it pretty well,” Kiviharju said when asked about the outcome. “I mean, like, not the result we wanted, not the ending we wanted, but at the end of the day, it was, it was a hell of a hockey game.”

Rather than focus on the final shot or the missed opportunity, Kiviharju framed the loss within the context of the stage and the quality of play.

Overtime was filled with chance after chance and breakaway after breakaway. Both Finland's Petteri Rimpinen and Sweden's Love Harenstam stood tall. Rimpinen stopped four breakaways in overtime.

The two teams traded blows in the shootout as well. Both Rimpinen and Harenstam made some huge saves but Anton Frondell, the Chicago Blackhawks' top prospect, ended it in a shootout.

"That was an incredible game. Incredible game," Finland's head coach Lauri Mikkola said. "Both have good chance in the game. And overtime was amazing, both have a good chance to score. I think Sweden have three or four breakaways, and we have the power play, two times we hit the post. 

 "I don’t have the words for that game. Sometimes it happened like that."

These two elite teams traded momentum all night, and Kiviharju believed that anyone who was watching probably felt the same intensity.

“I am 100% sure that everybody watching this game today, whether you were here or from the television or whatever it was, I think this was one of the craziest hockey games I’ve ever witnessed,” he said. “And you got to give credit to Sweden. They did their job really well. Obviously they, I think, deserved to win. At the end of the day you get a respected team that comes out with the win and they figure out a way to do it tonight.”

For Kiviharju, a defense prospect of the Minnesota Wild, the emotions of the loss were layered by the significance of wearing Finland’s jersey, something he described as far more than just another tournament assignment.

“A privilege [and] an honor,” he said. “I mean, that's the thing you dream of when you're a kid watching these games. To get to represent the country you've grown up in, the country you love, and the country that gives you, every day, a safe place to live and it gives a great environment to live at. As I said, it's an honor and a privilege. I can't even describe it.”

That meaning is only magnified by the letter on his chest. As Finland’s captain, Kiviharju sees leadership not as a title, but as a responsibility he has to earn daily.

He makes it his mission everyday to prove the decision from the coaches who gave him the captain's patch to be the right one.

“Yes, absolutely,” he said. “To represent your country, to overall play at this tournament, and then, plus that, wearing a 'C' letter on your chest. It's a huge honor. I try to do everything, every day to make it worth it. You know, [for] the guys and the coaches that trusted me to put me in this point. So [I] just try to make it worth it every day.”

I asked #mnwild prospect Aron Kiviharju on what it has meant to wear the ‘C’ for Finland.

“It’s a huge honor. I try to do everything (I can) everyday to make it worth it for the guys and coaches who trusted me.” pic.twitter.com/NCvJvE7dth

— Dylan Loucks (@DylanLoucks4) January 5, 2026

Despite the sting of the loss, Finland’s tournament is not over. With a bronze medal still up for grabs, Kiviharju made it clear the group isn’t treating the final game as a consolation.

“Yeah, it's unfinished business. That's it,” he said. “We're going to take care that we get the bronze medal. Just try to figure out a way.”

For Kiviharju, perspective and ambition can coexist. A top-four finish already carries weight, but it isn’t the standard he’s aiming for.

“And I said every time you finish, even at the top four, it's a great accomplishment,” he said. “But as I said, our job is not finished, and we're looking forward to putting that bronze on our neck.”

Kiviharju, 19, has five assists in five games and is a plus-4 in five games for Finland.

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