The USA outshot Czechia 36-28 in the quarterfinal but only one puck crossed the goal line, and it wasn’t by much. On a second-period power play, a point shot from David Špaček hit the arm of Pavel Zacha in front of the net and bounced across the line, swept away by the stick of Charlie Lindgren just a little too late.

Otherwise nothing got past either goalie, with Anaheim Ducks goalie Lukáš Dostál posting the shutout in the Czech victory; sending the Americans home.

“We just didn’t get the job done,” Cole Caufield shrugged when it was over. “No goals. I think we tried to compete as hard as we could and I thought we gave it to them in the third. Credit to Dostál, he played well tonight.”

“It’s tough to answer that question right now,” U.S. captain Brady Tkachuk responded when asked what the team could have done better. “It’s going to take a little time to reflect. I mean, they just had a lot of numbers everywhere. They congested play in the zones – they played a great game.”

The game with a physical battle, with Tkachuk and Czech defenseman Radko Gudas often fighting for space in front of the net.

“Yeah, it’s just part of the game,” Tkachuk acknowledged with no apparent ill will. “You know what? That’s his type of game and my type of game is to get to the net, try to bring it and try to drag guys into the fight, so credit to him.”

Speaking about some of the missed opportunities, Tkachuk said, “I like to pride myself and I think a lot of the guys here like to pride themselves on stepping up in the big moment, so this is going to be a tough pill to swallow.”

The game was played before a lively sell-out crowd of 17,410 in Prague, with fan support almost completely behind the Czechs. Still, the Americans enjoyed the atmosphere.

“It was exciting for both teams, I think,” said Caufield. “Obviously they had home-ice advantage but it’s fun to play in front of a crowd like that.”

It’s a short tournament, and both players acknowledged a lot of positive experiences along the way.

“It was fun,” said Caufield. “We got to meet new guys, play a lot of games and compete.”

“I got to play with some pretty awesome, fun players that I wouldn’t normally expect to play with,” Tkachuk agreed. “It’s always an honor to be able to represent the USA. I just really wish we’d been able to bring home a gold medal, but there are always lessons to be learned and to be better because of it.”