USA at the top of the world

Sweden – USA has all to be a great final, including two of the best teams performed at WJC in Ufa. The talent of the Swedish faces the American team organization. Seeded in two different preliminary group, Sweden and USA has the last meeting before Christmas in Helsinki in a preparation game, when Sweden won 3-2.

The first period sees the Swedish goalie Lundstrom faces the more dangerous situation, mainly when Scandinavians concede two consecutive power plays. Remarkable his dive at 11 minute to block a shot by defender Shayne “ghost” Gostisbehere. The solid John Gibson well blocked a Filip Sandberg initiative at 13 and Alexander Wennberg shot one minute after and a Rickard Rakell penetration at 14, this the most difficult save. John Gardreau breaks the Swedish superiority with a powerful shot well pinched by Lundstrom. The Swedish goal is lucky when Rocco Grimaldi hits the post and his teammate Tyler Biggs doesn’t find the right coordination to score in the open goal. But also Gibson can thank the fortune when Sebastian Collberg chooses a backhand shot and not a direct one well positioned in front of American goal. In this first period USA seems on fire with the forwards but not solid as usual on defense. One minute before the first pause Jim Vesey doesn’t capitalize a smart pass from the defense shooting on Lundstrom. Cole Bardreau takes a penalty with 30 seconds before the end and Gibson has to work on a William Karlsson shot, deflected with the stick by USA goalie.



USA paid the last penalty at 21.09: the puck shooted by Rickard Rakell dances between the skates of Seth Jones and Filip Sandberg is the quickest to finalize with no chance for Gibson for 1-0 Sweden. While USA can’t develop their speedy style of play, Sweden shows calm and concentration in preparing the actions, keeping American defense under pressure. In a good moment for Roger Ronnberg’s squad, USA tie game with an individual action by Rocco Grimaldi: his tentative from behind the net finds a little chink between the post and Lundstrom pad for an unexpected goal. The University of North Dakota guy, here in Ufa with all the family, scoreless until now in the tournament, becomes the US hero when he scored the 2-1 deflecting a shot from Jacob Trouba at 30:27. Besides these two American flashes, it’s Sweden to lead the game, even if without real chances, so USA can close the period up by one.

It’s a great move by Viktor Arvidsson stopped by Gibson to awake Sweden in last period after 7 minutes, then Gibson deflected a Robert Hagg shot from the blue but Sweden pressure is steady, but John Gibson is a wall, showing once more why he deserves the title of Tournament MVP awarded by media and directorate. Kitchener goalie is lucky when a shot by Filip Forsberg with 2 minutes to play is deflected and landed over the bar. Coach Ronnberg calls a time out immediately after this chance and pull the goalie for the final siege but USA well controls the Sweden rage and when Emil Djuse failed the shot, it’s easy for Vince Trocheck sealing the US triumph for the first time since 2010.
MVP: William Karlsson – Rocco Grimaldi



USA victory closes a good quality WJC, with decent attendance in all games, making Ufa 2013 the third most attended U20 in Europe, the last played with current format. From next year’s Malmö edition, all eight teams will play in the quarter-finals; the 5th-place game will be eliminated; and, the bottom two teams in each group will play a best-of-three to determine which country gets demoted.

USA captain Jake McCabe explains the secret of the team and which was the key moment along the tournament:”Battle hard, definitely battle hard game and game, everyone in this team do its duty at its best, this title is a prize for everyone here. The first period against Canada was the key moment, we were able to dominate the opponent, there is the game to be successful for the rest of the tournament.”
Night hero Rocco Grimaldi burst with joy: “It wasn’t my dream to play against Sweden in the final because it’s a great team, but I’m definitely happy this happened because I can scored two goals. I started this tournament with an injury but I keep calm and try to not think too much on this. My first goal come during a hard moment for us.”
Sweden coach Roger Ronnenberg pays tribute to new champions:”USA is a great team, very skillful and very difficult to play against. I’m proud of my team but I didn’t recognize my guys in the first thirty minutes tonight. Then I think we had several chances to tie game and who knows win at overtime, but didn’t happened, this is hockey”
Champion Phil Housley said: “It was a great tournament, and I’m very very proud of my team, I think we got better in every game, even in the losses. Tonight when Sweden jumped out for the early lead we remained composed because we had scoring chances early. Just previously in this tournament we found the way to win, because Sweden is a very good team, this the reason they come undefeated at the final. The character we showed tonight I think was the key to win”


Best Player for each team:
SWE: Niklas Lunsdtrom, Mikael Vikstrand, Filip Forsberg
USA: John Gibson, Jacob Trouba, John Gaudreau

Tournament Awards

All Star Team
John Gibson
Jacob Trouba
Jake Mc Cabe
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
John Gaudreau
Filip Forsberg

Directorate Best Player Awards
Best Goalie:   John Gibson
Best Defender:   Jacob Trouba
Best Forward:   Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

 

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