Team USA is no more at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship.
In a stunning upset on Wednesday evening, Team Czechia defeated the Americans by a 4–2 score to advance to the quarterfinals.
Luke Hughes, Logan Cooley, Matt Coronato, Thomas Bordeleau, and the rest of Team USA have been eliminated from medal contention after going undefeated in the preliminary round.
The Americans allowed just four goals in their four round-robin games. They gave up four to the Czechs on Wednesday, and the eventual winner by Matyas Sapovaliv was a full-fledged stinker for goaltender Kaiden Mbereko.
Cooley and Carter Mazur scored for Team USA, which outshot Team Czechia 30–24 in the quarterfinal contest. Jan Mysak, Petr Hauser, and Jiri Kulich also found the back of the net for the Czechs.
Team Czechia really struggled in the preliminary round, winning just one of its four games and barely sneaking into the elimination stage.
Now, the Czechs will take on Team Canada on Friday afternoon. Can they pull off the unthinkable?
Team Latvia comes oh, so close
Team Sweden needed all 60 minutes of Wednesday’s quarterfinal game against Team Latvia to advance to the Final Four.
The Latvians have never been a favorite at the World Juniors — entering this year’s tournament, they had never even won a game in the round robin — but they punched way above their weight class against the Swedes in the quarters.
After two periods of play, the shots narrowly controlled the shots by a 16–12 margin. Team Latvia defenseman Gustavs Ozolins made it a 1–1 game late in the second, sending the fans at Rogers Arena into a frenzy.
The Latvians even successfully killed a five-minute major penalty assessed to Martins Lavins early in the third period.
But Team Sweden took all the momentum from there, outshooting their opponents 11–1 in the final period and coming out on top off a game-winning goal by star defenseman Emil Andrae.
Ultimately, Team Latvia could only go so far. At the same time, they offered a reminder to the folks who always clamor for fewer teams to participate at the World Juniors.
Team Latvia gave Team Sweden an excellent fight. It was must-see action, right down to the end. That’s why they play the games.
Quarterfinal results
Team Finland 5, Team Germany 2
Team Sweden 2, Team Latvia 1
Team Canada 6, Team Switzerland 3
Team USA 2, Team Czechia 4
Semifinal schedule (August 19)
Team Canada vs. Team Czechia — 2:00 p.m. MT / 4:00 p.m. ET
Team Sweden vs. Team Finland — 6:00 p.m. MT / 8:00 p.m. ET
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