Zeev Buium Named to USA Roster for 2025 World Championship

DENVER – Zeev Buium is aiming for another medal with the United States.
 
The former University of Denver hockey defenseman was named on Monday to Team USA’s roster for the 2025 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark.
 
This is Buium’s first time representing the country at the senior level, but he is no stranger to wearing the red, white and blue. A former member of the U.S. National Team Development Program (2021-2023), Buium won gold medals with Team USA at the 2023 IIHF U18 World Championship, 2022 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament in Michigan and the 2021 Under-17 Four Nations Tournament in Finland. He helped the United States to a pair of silver medals at the 2021 Four Nations Tournament in Slovakia and 2023 Four Nations Tournament in Finland.
 
Most recently, Buium was a member of USA’s National Junior Team each of the previously two years that won gold medals at the 2024 and 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship on a squad that was led by Denver Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. Those marked the sixth and seventh under-20 championships by USA Hockey—all within the last 21 years—and was the first time the Americans had won back-to-back gold medals.
 
The San Diego, California, native was an alternate captain on the U.S. squad this past December and January and totaled six points on two goals and four assists in seven games, and he contributed assists on the game-tying and overtime-winning tallies in the Gold Medal Game against Finland on Jan. 5. He averaged 25:13 of ice time, the second-most among all players at the tournament.
 
This past season, Buium was named the NCHC Player of the Year, selected as a Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick finalist and was named the USCHO.com Player of the Year by tying for first among all NCAA defensemen with 48 points. His 13 goals were a career high and his 35 assists were second-highest for all skaters behind only teammate Jack Devine (44).
 
He signed a three-year, entry-level contract on April 13 with the Minnesota Wild, the team that selected him No. 12 overall in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft. Buium became the first Wild player to make his NHL debut in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when he suited up in Game 1 against Vegas on April 20. He appeared in four postseason contests for Minnesota, totaling one assist, four penalty minutes and averaging 13:36 of ice time per game.
 
He finished his collegiate career ranked 10th in scoring among Denver defensemen with 98 career points (24g/74a), the most by a Pioneer defender in their first two years with the program since Greg Woods had a pair of 52-point performances in 1975-76 as a freshman and 1976-77 as a sophomore.
 
The United States is in Group B at the World Championship with Czechia, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Kazakhstan and Hungary and will play their preliminary round games at Jyske Bank Bozen in Herning, Denmark. The event begins on May 9 and runs through May 25, with the semifinals and medal contests being held at Avicii Arena in Stockholm. All USA games will be televised on NHL Network.
 
Team USA has won 20 medals in its history at the World Championship, with two golds, nine silvers and nine bronzes. The Americans’ last medal was a bronze in 2021. Their two golds came in 1933 and 1960, with the latter being held in conjunction with that year’s Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. The team’s last silver was in 1956, also during the Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
 
 
United States 2025 World Championship Schedule
May 9 vs. Denmark, 12:20 p.m. MT
May 11 vs. Hungary, 4:20 a.m. MT
May 12 vs. Switzerland, 8:20 a.m. MT
May 14 vs. Norway, 8:20 a.m. MT
May 17 vs. Germany, 4:20 a.m. MT
May 18 vs. Kazakhstan, 8:20 a.m. MT
May 20 vs. Czechia, 8:20 a.m. MT
May 22 Quarterfinals, Time TBD
May 24 Semifinals (Stockholm), 6:20 a.m. or 10:20 a.m. MT

May 25 Gold & Bronze Medal Games, 7:20 a.m. or 12:20 p.m. MT