New Zealand had to wait until the last game of the tournament, between unbeaten Belgium and Georgia, to see whether they would finish with silver or bronze at the division two, group B world championships in Sofia.
Belgium, already certain of gold, duly beat Georgia, meaning a silver medal for the Kiwis.
It was their first medal at a world championships since 2019 and a significant improvement on their fourth placing last year.
They won three games, lost one in a shootout, and only suffered one heavy defeat, a 6-0 loss to the impressive Belgian side.
The Ice Blacks finished with a 5-2 win over Turkey.
Rising star Jackson Fontaine opened the scoring in the 11th minute, assisted by Stampede pair Connor Harrison and Callum Burns.
Fontaine grabbed his second just 33sec later with assists from Matt Schneider and Jacob Carey.
Michael Attwell made it 3-0 in the second period before the Turks got one back to make it interesting heading into the third.
Fontaine got his hat-trick with a Schneider assist, and Stampede forward Ryan Strayer sealed it with 7min to play, though Turkey scored a consolation goal.
Unusually, the Ice Blacks scored their five goals on just 12 shots, while goaltender Csaba Kercso-Magos saved 26 of the 28 shots on his goal.
Kercso-Magos was ranked second at the tournament with a 90.91% save rate and average goals against of 3.33.
New Zealand’s team MVP was Stampede star Stefan Amston with five goals and four assists. He was also named best defenceman at the tournament.
Fontaine finished with seven goals and one assist, Stampede forward Colin McIntosh had two goals and five assists, and Stampede great Schneider had two goals and four assists.
The other Stampede players in the squad were goaltender Joel Hasselman and forward Dylan Devlin, while Jackson Flight represented the Dunedin Thunder.
Ice Blacks coaching staff were pleased with the team’s efforts.
"While it’s not the gold we had hoped for, we are still incredibly proud of the team and what they’ve accomplished here in Bulgaria," coach AJ Spiller said.
"With nine rookies on the team this year, the future is looking bright for the Ice Blacks."
