This was a huge victory for the USA Hockey Program, and they will now have a chance to compete for the Gold Medal against Sweden. The U-20 World Junior Championship Gold Medal game will be broadcast on NHL Network at 8 am on Saturday. Sweden is the current defending champion and it should be a fantastic game.
Watching the highlights from this game shows how truly impressive some of these players are, and the U.S. did a great job to avenge their 2-1 pool play loss to Canada. Their performance this year has been infinitely better than the 7th place finish the U.S. struggled to last year.
The team has been led by Kitchner Rangers (OHL) goaltender John Gibson. Gibson has been the best goalie in the tournament, with a 1.42 goals against average, a 95.43% save percentage and 1 shutout.
At forward, Boston College sophomore Johnny Gaudreau has been doing the heavy lifting, with 7 goals and 2 assists in the tournament. He had two absolutely stellar goals against Canada, and has been on an serious tear the past two games. Alex Galchenyuk of the Sarnia Sting (OHL) has contributed 8 points, and so has Connecticut Whale (AHL) forward J.T. Miller. After struggling early, the U.S. has finally found their stride in the offensive zone.
On defense, Michigan freshman Jacob Trouba has been an absolute force, tallying 4 goals and 4 assists. While, Seth Jones of the Portland Winterhawks (WHL), has increased his draft stock with 7 points, and will have a great shot to be drafted #1 overall in 2013. Not to be forgotten is Wisconsin sophomore and team USA captain Jake McCabe. He started the scoring against Canada and finished with two goals, while be named player of the game.
The overall leading scorer for the tournament has been Canadian forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, which shouldn’t surprise anyone because he spent last year playing for the Edmonton Oilers and tallied 52 points in 62 games. The only reason he is even playing over in Ufa, Russia is because of the NHL lockout.
Here’s a pretty cool video of what the facilities are like over in Russia.
[YouTube]
