U18: Great game in Crimmitschau, Team USA scored a late goal and beat Russia

The Czech Republic was down twice against Norway. Steffan Søberg had 45 saves and showed very steady performance but could not prevent his team from losing. Norwegians were twice ahead, but with 2:31 to go Norway got a penalty for too many players on the ice and Dmitrij Jaskin rebounded luckily and deflected the puck into the net. He scored his 2nd winning goal of the tournament. "They have a great goalie here. Everyone has troubles to beat him," said Jaskin.

Because of the Czech win, Sweden needed a victory against Finland to keep the chance for advancing to the quarterfinal round alive. And now, the Swedes might advance right into the semifinals, if they beat Finland. Sweden heavily outplayed Finland, their first striking line was dominant. "We have a special chemistry together and I hope we will continue to play like this against Canada. We have to be strong in the defense too," said forward Jeremy Boyce Rotevall.

Sweden had almost three times more shots than Finland and mainly in the first two periods Finland was harmless. Besides goals Sweden added three inner posts... "The deciding moment came in the 2nd period when Swedes scored easy goals. Now we have to get ready for the game against the Czechs. If we lose, we go to relegation round," said a Finnish forward Markus Granlund.

In Crimmitschau more than 2200 spectators could watch the beauty and cruelty of a game called ice hockey. The United States were a better team in the first two periods, gained the 3-1 lead but Russia fought hard and had a great finish. Nikita Kutscherov tied the game and Jakupov and Schalunov had great chances to score but an American goalie John Gibson made fantastic saves and from an innocent move, Reid Boucher scored a winner. "I have to thank to my players who they were able to come back in the game. Their goalie was excellent, he had also a lot of luck," said Andrei Parfenov, an assistant coach of Team Russia. "We did not play well in the 1st period, but this team showed a huge character," added a Russian defenceman Nikita Nesterov. Also a head coach of Team USA Ron Rolston knew it was the highlight game of the tournament. "People had to have fun watching this one. We were better in the 1st, but it was Russian`s turn then. They showed us who fast and skilled they are. They tied the game and they could get into the lead. Finally, we won when we managed to score right away after the face-off," said Rolston.


John Gibson is ready to catch Vladimir Tkachev's shot
Photo: Dominika Handzusova

Slovakia will play in the relegation round. The Slovaks played their first close game of the tournament, but still lost to Switzerland 2-3. Slovaks overcame two goals deficit, but Bertschy scored the winning goal in 51st minute. "I think we were a better team from the 15th minute but it was not enough to win this game. When this game was tied at 2-2, it was clear that it is about one additional goal. Unfortunately, we made an individual mistake, Swiss went on a breakaway and scored. Now we have to win both games in relegation round to stay in A Group," said Jozef Frühauf, a Slovakian coach.

Group A
Slovakia-Switzerland 2-3 (1-2, 0-0, 1-1)
Goals: 4. Hudec, 42. Boltun - 2. Richard, 10. Andrighetto, 51. Bertschy

USA-Russia 4-3 (2-0, 1-1, 1-2)
Goals: 8. Boyd, 12. and 27. Miller, 60. Boucher - 26. and 56. Kucherov, 44 Yakupov

Group B
Norway-Czech Republic 2-3 (1-0, 1-2, 0-1)
Goals: 3. Heier, 34. Karterud - 21. Frk, 38. Rousek, 59. Jaskin

Sweden-Finland 5-2 (1-1, 3-0, 1-1)
Goals: 7. Boyce Rotevall, 25. Lundberg, 32. and 59. Karlsson, 33. Zibanejad - 13. Kallela, 53 Järveläinen

 

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