Team USA won the World Men's Under-18 Championship on Sunday in a comeback effort against Sweden. Canada beat Slovakia for bronze in a back-and-forth affair.
Team USA won the World Men's Under-18 Championship on Sunday in a comeback effort against Sweden. Canada beat Slovakia for bronze in a back-and-forth affair.
The World Men’s U-18 Championship ended with the Americans claiming gold in a thrilling game against the Swedes in a matchup of the tournament’s two undefeated teams heading into the final.
After going down 2-0, the Americans came roaring back to force overtime, completing the comeback just 2:30 into the extra frame to capture gold and avenge their loss to Sweden in last year’s gold medal game.
Canada salvaged an up-and-down tournament, winning the bronze medal game. Slovakia gave them all they could handle, leading until the final minutes before Canada forced overtime and eventually had an unsurprising hero emerge.
Let’s take one final look at the U-18s with a review of the medal rounds.
USA Defeats Sweden for Gold
These were clearly the best two teams in the tournament. The Americans had throttled every team they played, and the Swedes were businesslike in their approach while pumping Canada twice along the way to the gold medal game. Only one team would remain undefeated at the end, though, with the Americans completing a comeback to capture gold.
The game started evenly as the teams traded chances. Trey Augustine looked stable in net for the Americans while the tournament’s top goalie Noah Erliden thwarted the powerful American attack.
Finally, Sweden struck first about 10 minutes into the frame. Sweden’s Anton Wahlberg spotted Elliot Stahlberg flying into the high slot and sent him the puck. Stahlberg put it where grandma keeps the cookies.
Just like that, the Americans trailed on the scoreboard for the first time at the U-18s.
Erliden continued to stand tall – despite being an undersized netminder – and defied the U.S. attack. It was a tall task considering the USA’s offensive power.
Erliden allowed the Swedes to continue to push offensively, which paid off as Axel Sandin Pellikka threw a shot on net a few minutes into the second period. Noel Nordh deflected the shot into the cage to give Sweden a two-goal lead.
Through 40 minutes, the Swedes had the Americans right where they wanted them. Twenty minutes remained, and they would be back-to-back champions at the U-18 World Championship. But the Americans had other plans.
First, with 10 minutes to go in the game, Danny Nelson got the Americans on the scoreboard. Cutting through the slot laterally with a screen posted in front of Erliden, Nelson deflected the puck off on a fly-by and beat Erliden. The Americans had life.
A power-play opportunity with five minutes to go gave the USA their best shot at tying the game.
Carey Terrance, one of the few non-NTDP players on the U.S. squad, tied the game after deflecting a shot from Eiserman. The Americans tied the game with under five minutes to play.
In a game filled with drama, the Swedes were not about to go down without a fight and didn’t want to go to overtime. They found ways to get into the offensive zone and create chances.
After Erliden had come up big all game for Sweden, it was Augustine’s turn. The American netminder made multiple big saves toward the end of the game, including two stellar stops just before time expired.
Augustine didn’t need to make a save in overtime – the game only had one shot in the extra frame.
Ryan Leonard was the American hero to complete the comeback. Penetrating the offensive zone with his linemates streaking toward the net, Leonard cut into the slot and fired the puck between the Swedish defenders. Erliden got a piece of it, but it wasn’t enough. The puck dribbled into the net, and the Americans were Under-18 world champions once again.
Celebrini’s Overtime Heroics Win Canada the Bronze
The 16-year-old started and ended the scoring for the Canadians.
Macklin Celebrini, one of the top players eligible for the 2024 NHL draft, made an incredibly skilled play in overtime to dangle the Slovak netminder and score the game-winner.
The game featured plenty of drama between two evenly matched teams despite the Canadians having far more household names.
Samuel Urban was outstanding in net for Slovakia, making 37 saves and keeping them in the game from start to finish. Celebrini was Canada’s top player, making play after play.
The Canadians knew they were in for a fight and had to come out swinging quickly, and they did. They controlled the puck to start the game, and the Slovaks weathered the storm in the first period.
Celebrini scored from the slot at the halfway point of the second period, with Caden Price making a slick pass to the Vancouver native to put Canada up a goal.
With a power play late in the period, Slovakia found the scoreboard with a familiar face finding twine in Dalibor Dvorksy, Slovakia’s leading scorer. With under two minutes in the second frame, Slovakia relinquished Canada’s lead. The pushback came quickly.
Streaking down the center of the ice, Colby Barlow made a pass to the outside as he entered the offensive zone, and Matthew Wood gave it right back to him in the slot. Barlow made no mistake, launching the puck into the back of the net with under 20 seconds to go in the period.
The Slovaks would come out flying in the third. They were assertive and controlled the puck more efficiently.
Petr Cisar scored to tie the game less than two minutes into the period. With the puck jammed up against the boards, Cisar waited outside the pileup to collect any loose puck. The puck came free right to Cisar’s stick, and he fired it immediately from above the faceoff dots, beating Gabriel D’Aigle.
Slovakia didn’t stop there and kept pushing. They took the lead with just over four minutes to play, as Daniel Jenko beat D’Aigle clean off the rush. The Sloakians pushed the Canadians to the brink with just minutes remaining. That’s all the time Canada needed.
With the goalie pulled, Celebrini fired a shot from out high into traffic around the net. After bouncing around, Andrew Cristall pushed the puck into the slot for Wood, who was all alone. Making no mistake, the Canadians tied the game, and the match was off to overtime.
The extra period didn’t last long, but there was plenty of action. Urban, who kept the Slovaks in the game, made a stellar play. As the puck was sent down the ice with Macklin Celebrini chasing it down, Urban decided to try to win the race. He met Celebrini at the top of the faceoff circle and poked the puck away in desperation. Urban did everything he could to help Slovakia strive for an upset.
Unfortunately, Macklin Celebrini was all too happy to ruin his superb effort with an absolute beauty of a goal to end the game in overtime, capturing bronze for Canada.
Despite all of Canada’s defensive woes and an injury to their starting netminder, Canada’s forward group had enough in the tank to take home a medal.