Both teams had only won this tournament once in their history, but, despite never sending what is considered their best U-18 team – something the players get tired of hearing about – the USA won the August tournament for the first time since 2003.
“We were the underdogs – no one expected us to win,” said goaltender Brady Knowling. “I think our team just wanted it. We just kind of gelled at training camp. We came out and played for 60 minutes really hard, and we got what we deserved.”
For Sweden, whose only win was back in 2007, the drought continues.
FINAL: Sweden 3 – USA 5 (2-3, 1-1, 0-1)
In the previous meeting between the two teams in the group stage, the Swedes went 3-for-8 on the power play, which made the difference. This time, the USA was dominant wth the man advantage, going 4-for-8 while the Swedes were 1-for-5.
“In this game, we learned that if you take penalties, it’s not going to be good for you,” said Sweden’s Marcus Nordmark, who was held pointless in this game but still ended up as the tournament’s top scorer with 12 points.
Nordmark added, “The USA did a really great job to block the shots and the goalie was super good.”
The USA outshot Sweden 35-29 in the game. Jack Hextall led the Americans offensively with a goal and two assists, while Elton Hermansson scored twice for Sweden.
“I’m so happy – so happy for my teammates, so happy for the USA – it’s awesome,” Hextall smiled after the game.
The game began at a torrid pace with four goals in the first seven minutes.
Hermansson picked the top corner off the rush just 10 seconds into the game. Then the Americans struck twice just 1:04 apart – Levi Harper just after they killed off a penalty, then Noah Davidson on the power play. Finally, Hampus Zirath made it 2-2 at 6:28, deflecting a point shot from Theodore Knights.
“You just shake it off,” Knowling said after the early goal. “It’s just the start of the game and you don’t want to think about it too much – you just shake it off and move on to the next shot.”
After earlier setting up Davidson’s power-play goal, Hextall scored one of his own late in the opening period, working the puck in the high slot and firing a shot through a crowd that Milo Tjärnlund never saw.
The teams traded power-play goals in the second period. The Americans opened up a two-goal lead in the first minute on a nice individual effort by Nikita Klepov, cutting in front from the right-wing boards. The Swedes cut the deficit back to one in the late going on a one-timer from Hermansson, his second of the game.
The Americans thought they’d increased the lead to 5-3 on another power play but, upon video review, it was ruled that the puck had been kicked in. The Swedes pressed hard for the equalizer, with Hermansson nearly picking the corner again with his deadly wrist shot but Knowlings got a shoulder on it.
“I think the biggest saves were just eating those rebounds and not letting anything out,” said Knowling.
Finally, with 2:24 to play, Nick Bogas scored the USA’s fourth power-play goal of the game to ice it.
BRONZE GAME: Canada 3 – Finland 0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0)
It’s not the game they’re used to playing in at this tournament but the Canadians shook off the disappointment of their semifinal loss to the USA and defeated Finland 3-0.
Daxon Rudolph assisted on the game-winning goal – the opener by Colin Williams in the sixth minute – and iced the victory with an empty-net goal with less than three minutes to go.
Canada outshot Finland 30-22, with Gavin Betts stopping everything for the shutout.
Final order of finish:
1.
USA
2.
Sweden
3. Canada
4. Finland
5. Czechia
6.
Slovakia
7. Switzerland
8. Germany