Former NHLer Jesse Puljujärvi loses World Championship medal, fans urged to check karaoke bars

A champion seems to have misplaced some important hardware.

According to the latest episode of Urheilucast, a Finnish podcast hosted by Esko Seppanen, Finland forward and former NHLer Jesse Puljujarvi has lost the gold medal he won at the 2026 IIHF Men’s World Championship. Per the report, Puljujarvi lost the medal in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

Citizens have been asked to look for the medal at karaoke bars around the area, as it was reportedly stolen last Monday at the Åke Karaoke bar. Puljujarvi told Finnish outlet Iltalehti that the medal was made available for people to look at, but it never got back to him.

“The medal was on display,” Puljujarvi said in a translated quote. “People were allowed to look at it, but my medal was never returned.”

Puljujarvi earned the medal with a solid performance at the Men’s Worlds last month in Switzerland. In his first appearance at the tournament in two years, the Swedish-born winger scored four goals and five assists for nine points in 10 games, finishing second on the team in scoring behind Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov. The duo was key in helping the Lions win gold at the world championship for the fifth time in the country’s history.

Puljujarvi stated the medal only means more to someone who has actually earned it, and that he would be willing to offer a…sweet reward to the one who returns it to him.

“It doesn’t really have any value to anyone other than those who won it…I will offer the person who returns it ice cream, a coffee with a bun, or even both, if I get it back.”

The award is the third gold medal of Puljujarvi’s international career, having finished atop the podium at the 2016 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship and 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship, the latter of which he was named the tournament’s most valuable player after leading all skaters with 17 points.