On the lucky 13th try, the semifinal curse is dead. For the first time since the IIHF adopted a playoff format for the World Championship in 1992, the USA is in the final, following a 6-2 win over Sweden in Stockholm.
After the game, captain Clayton Keller of the Utah Mammoth and Jackson LaCombe and Cutter Gauthier of the Anaheim Ducks shared their thoughts.
“We got pucks to the net, buried our chances, and I liked our effort for most of the game,” said Keller.
“It’s a huge honor,” said Gauthier. “Obviously, we knew coming in it was going to be a battle, it was going to be a hard game to play on their home ice but I thought we did a great job playing a complete game, playing a full 60, and thankfully, we got the win.”
The USA dominated host Swedes in the first period, outshooting them 13-3 and taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Brady Skjei and Gauthier.
Describing his 2-0 goal late in the period, Gauthier said, “It was just a simple puck to the net from Smitty (Will Smith) and it just kinda bounced out there, and (Shane) Pinto was battling in frot of the net. I was able to get the shot off and thankfully, it went in.”
Sweden came back with a push in the second period but Jeremy Swayman kept everything out and the Americans got goals by Conor Garland and Mikey Eyssimont to make it 4-0. It looked like they had the game locked away but looks can sometimes be deceiving. Sweden got two goals from William Nylander and Elias Lindholm 40 seconds apart early in the third period to make things interesting, and USA coach Ryan Warsofsky called a timeout to settle his team down.
“We just stopped playing there for a couple of minutes,” said Keller. “They scored two right away and I think right after the timeout, we kinda reset, got back to our game and just played simple. It’s hard not to look at the clock sometimes, so once we got past that, I liked our game.”
“I think, for us, we just had to stay on our game,” LaCombe agreed. “We were being a little passive and letting them play, so we just had to stay on it for the rest of the game and I thought we did a great job.”
It was LaCombe’s goal with under nine minutes remaining that stemmed the tide and gave his team a bit of breathing room. Taking a pass from Frank Nazar at his own blueline, Lacombe motored up the ice and beat Samuel Ersson with a beautiful wrist shot over the blocker.
“It was obviously exciting,” said LaCombe. “I think there was still a lot of time left in the game so we had to stay focused, but it was great to get one after they got some momentum. I thought we did a great job after that.”
An empty-netter from Pinto secured the semifinal victory, but there’s little time to savor it.
“The job’s not finished,” said Keller. “We’ve got one more to go and then we can talk about it.”
“I think, for us, it’s important just to move on quickly,” said LaCombe. “Obviously, we beat a great team here (today) but we have another game tomorrow.”
Playing the first semifinal, the Americans didn’t know if they’d have Switzerland or Demark in the final but, either way, they know how they have to play.
“I think the same way we’ve been playing,” said Lacombe. “We’ve done a great job so far and I think our game has gotten better and better as the tournament’s gone on, so for us, we’ve just gotta stay focused.”
And, of course, there was the reminder that one has to go all the way back to 1933 to find the only previous occasion that the USA has won a standalone IIHF World Championship.
“We knew that coming into it,” said Gauthier. “It’s been a long time since the USA has won in this tournament – this is a tournament that we’ve definitely lacked in wins – and that’s why all of us came over. We wanted to play in some important games and we’re super excited to be in the final tomorrow, but we’ve gotta go get ready for it.”
Photo © James Guillory-Imagn Images: Jackson Lacombe and Cutter Gauthier celebrating a goal for the Anaheim Ducks during the 2024-25 season.
