Czechia Upsets Team USA, Advances to Face Canada in Semi-Finals

In the fourth and final quarterfinal matchup, Czechia looks to bounce back after a loss to Team Latvia while Team USA flies into the game perfect so far. Czechia will certainly come out strong and look to get ahead early. Whereas, the U.S. play a fast, assertive game and deploy a slew of top-end talent, so their group is difficult to contain whether they are leading or trailing.

Starting goaltenders:

USA - Kaiden Mbereko
Czechia - Tomas Suchanek

Both goalies stopped everything through the first twelve minutes, helped out by a post or two. It would take an extremely unfortunate bounce off Matthew Knies (TOR) that fell right at the feet of Matt Coronato (CGY), who found Logan Cooley (ARI) right on the doorstep giving USA the 1-0 lead.

The Czechs wouldn't need more than a few minutes to respond, evening the game off of a net-front deflection by Jan Mysak (MTL):

End of 1st Period: USA - 1 :: CZE - 1

Shots: 16 - 10 USA

An apparent injury hindered Luke Hughes (NJD) and kept the defensive standout from the ice for some time. Clearly, his abilities are being limited as a result.

Czechia took a 2-1 lead after controlling the opening sequence, courtesy of a rocket from D Petr Hauser (NJD):

Team USA is in trouble here. On top of Luke Hughes suffering an injury, the U.S. is reliant on unproven goaltender Kaiden Mbereko, who is being tested for the first time and looks shaky so far, and the outlook is grim. And wouldn't you know it, Czechia scores again:

With one of their biggest threats neutralized, USA needs someone to step up in this elimination match. Czechia controlled play the entire second period, and frustration seriously started to overcome Team USA.

End of 2nd Period: USA - 1 :: CZE - 3

To open the third period, Brett Berard (NYR) took a slewfooting penalty, leading to his ejection and a five-minute major penalty. Trailing 3-1, USA is in a deep, deep hole. Luckily, their penalty killers fought off the entire five-minute man-advantage, and made it to even strength without surrendering a goal.

Minutes later, Stanislav Svozil was ejected for kneeing Arizona's Logan Cooley and assessed a five-minute major. Team USA scored once on the powerplay, cutting Czechia's lead to one:

A Luke Hughes turnover would seal the fate of Team USA, leading to an empty net goal. Talk about a frustrating evening; after a brilliant tournament, Hughes gets hurt in USA's first elimination game, turns the puck over leading to an empty-netter, causing USA to get bounced from the World Juniors without a medal. Brutal.

The Czechs forge onward to play Canada; Sweden will play Finland in the other semi-final game. Czechia needed a bounce back win, and they got one. USA on the other hand will only need to sit on this loss for a few months, until the 2023 World Juniors this winter.

Players of the Game:

USA: F Carter Mazur
Czechia: G Tomas Suchanek

Players of the Tournament for Team USA:
- Luke Hughes (NJD)
- Carter Mazur (CHI)
- Thomas Bordeleau (SJS)

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