Floorball Festival in Chicago a Big Success!

Time to sum up the Floorball Festival in Chicago in mid-June that was a successful celebration of floorball.

Floorball Chicago’s “Floorball Festival” wrapped up in mid-June at the Blackhawks Ice Center in Chicago, Illinois. It was a wonderful celebration of the sport with non-stop floorball programming from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm for seven straight days - headlined by the Men’s U19 North American Qualification three Game Series between the USA and Canada.

Other events included the 2026 US Adult Nationals, 2026 US Youth Nationals, multiple youth camps, exposing over 350 kids to the sport of floorball, and an exhibition series featuring the Finnish Falcons (a highly accomplished MU19 team from Finland) against Team Canada, Team USA Men’s Under 19 Teams and a US All Star Team.   

The 2026 Youth Nationals kicked off the tournament portion of the Festival on Wednesday (after several youth camps on Tuesday), boasting seven total teams, the most in over four years. It was the Chicago Stallions who put an end to the Chicago Bulldogs run of Championships, which included four consecutive national championships, by defeating Utah FC in a 2-1 nailbiter. Utah, down three players due to travel conflicts and playing a rookie goalie, battled hard to the end in the championship game, but just came up short.

The defending champions, Chicago Bulldogs did end up snatching third place, over the Chicago Pit Bulls. Other teams included the Lake Bluff Bobcats, and the Texas Lone Stars, but it was the McCartin Dragons who captured the hearts of fans. Despite not having a single player who had played the sport before, their squad improved drastically from game to game, and they nearly took down the eventual champions in the playoff round, losing to the Chicago Stallions in OT after leading most of the game. One of their players, Noah Cerritos, took home the Fair Floorball Award, for sportsmanship and gentlemanly play.

The leading point scorer and MVP of the tournament was Grayson Kenneth of the Chicago Pit Bulls, and finally, the best goalie award went to Lincoln Obafemi of the Chicago Bulldogs. With the Bulldogs regular goalie going down just mere days before the tournament, Obafemi stepped in, having never played the position before, and led his team to a bronze medal, posting tournament bests in Save Percentage and GAA.

It was a fantastic youth nationals – Congratulations to the Chicago Stallions on winning the gold medal and to the Utah Floorball Club for capturing the silver medal.

The US Adult National Championship followed right after, with a record 13 teams appearing in the competition. The Chicago Dogs took home gold, completing their “grand slam”, with wins at the Golden Gate Cup and the Texas Open in the last seven months. Triangle FC took home silver for their highest ever finish, and N2FA defeated Minnesota in the third place game for bronze, despite missing many of their top players. Other notables, included the return of Tomah FC, Richmond entering two teams, the Stars (a team comprised of mostly women) solid performance and the USA Men’s Developmental Team topping their group despite having 22 players ineligible, since they were competing in the qualifier against Canada. The future of USA Floorball has never been brighter!

Impressive 5th and 6th place finishes respectively from Austin FC and the Chicago Mad Dogs, and a strong debut from the young and feisty Chicago Hound Dogs indicate it’s only going to get more crowded at the top! Mountain West will look to build on their always strong play, while Minnesota hopes to become regular top finishers after their fourth place outing!

Isak Angerstig won the scoring title, something he’s not new too, while Max Johansson, elite two-way defender for the Chicago Dogs took home the MVP. David Slater of the Stars took home his first Best Goalie award, based on Save Percentage, and Jessie O’Neill of Triangle took home the Fair Floorball Award. It was arguably the most parity we've seen at any tournament in the US.

Finally, the marquee event of the weekend was the Men’s U19 North American Qualification three game series between the USA and Canada, for a spot at the MU19 World Championships, held in February 2027 in Riga, Latvia. The US had a young team, with only three returning players from the 2024 squad (goaltender Kaleb Winder, defender Max Trybom, and recently named captain Oliver Parent). For the rest of the U.S. squad, it was their first experience at the international level, and despite their inexperience they battled hard eventually succumbing to a bigger and more experienced Canadian squad. Canada used that experience and size to their advantage, taking all three games, and qualifying for the MU19 World Floorball Championships in Riga, Latvia.

All three Qualifier games were broadcast on CHSN (sports network that carries the Chicago Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox) as well as Roku and Sling TV. Other media coverage included an appearance of some USA Men’s Under 19 Team players on the WGN morning show.

Despite the disappointment of not qualifying, there are many things to be optimistic of from an American perspective. The US only has four players aging out for the next cycle. Due to a one-time schedule change in the IFF calendar, the next qualifier against Canada will take place in mid to late 2027. Captain Ollie Parent will return to lead the US squad – Parent has proven to be a great leader and role model for the younger players on the US Team.
 
The week long Festival concluded on Sunday evening with the Finnish Falcons besting a team of US All Stars and then more youth camps on Monday.

The ultimate goal of the Chicago LOC was to increase the awareness and exposure of Floorball in the mid-west and beyond.  Special thanks to the Blackhawks Ice Center for hosting this Floorball Festival!! We hope this event helps accelerate the continued growth of floorball in the United States, and that momentum will continue at upcoming tournaments!