The United States defeated Canada 4-1 on Tuesday to win Group A at the world junior hockey championship. Danny Nelson scored the game-winning goal in the third period, and Trey Augustine made 38 saves for the Americans.
Cole Hutson and Cole Eiserman also scored for the United States, while Ryan Leonard added an empty-net goal. Bradly Nadeau scored the lone goal for Canada, which finished third in the group and will face Czechia in the quarter-finals.
The Americans will face Switzerland in the quarter-finals. The other matchups will see Group B winners Sweden take on Latvia, and Finland square off with Slovakia.
Canada and the U.S. played in the same building exactly 16 years to the day at the 2009 event when John Tavares scored a memorable hat trick in the hosts’ 7-4 comeback victory on New Year’s Eve. The Canadians would eventually go on to win a fifth straight gold.
The North American neighbours met on New Year’s Eve for the first time since Dec. 31, 2016, when Canada picked up a 3-1 victory in Toronto, but the U.S. got revenge less than a week later with a 5-4 shootout triumph in the title game in Montreal.
Canada opened this year’s under-20 tournament with a 4-0 defeat of Finland before suffering a shocking 3-2 shootout loss to Latvia and registering a nervy 3-0 victory over Germany. The U.S. thumped Germany 10-4, topped Latvia 5-1 and fell 4-3 to Finland in overtime.
6 Comments
Murena
I believe in this Canadian team. They can still turn things around.
Evgen II
I'm starting to lose faith in this Canadian team. They just don't seem to have the same passion as the Americans.
Murena
This loss is a wake-up call for Canada. They need to find their fire if they want to win this tournament.
Evgen II
Nelson and Augustine were the stars of the game. They deserve all the credit.
Murena
It's good to see the Americans finally getting some revenge on Canada.
Mariposa
It's time for a major overhaul of Canadian hockey. This team is simply not good enough.