Team USA is Golden: World Champs Once Again

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For the first time in 92 years, the United States has won gold in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship. Their only other IIHF World Championship came in 1933. That year the United States defeated Canada 2-1 in the finals.

This year, team USA took gold over Switzerland, who had lost in the finals last year. Overall, this is the United States’ fifth gold medal in hockey. This is the first gold medal since the 1996 World Cup.

America was placed in Group B for the preliminary round of the World Championship. Canada was placed in Group A for the preliminary round. Hence, the rivals wouldn’t meet until the playoffs. This was good news for the United States, as they had lost to Canada in the finals of the NHL’s 4-Nations Face Off earlier this year.

In their first game, the United States dominated, shutting out Denmark 5-0. They followed up that shutout with a second. Silencing Hungary 6-0. However, America’s hot streak was short-lived. As Switzerland upset Team USA 3-0.

Sitting at 2-0-0-1, the U.S moved on to face Norway. The United States started with a quick 4-1 lead in the first period. Two minutes into the second period, Tage Thompson added another goal for the states. However, Norway managed to score four unanswered goals to push the game into overtime. Four minutes into overtime, a one-timer from Clayton Keller to Thompson gave Team USA the win.

A similar fate almost occurred when the U.S faced off with Germany. The stars and stripes were up 3-0 at the end of the first. But in the second period, Germany scored three straight, tying the game 3-3. Fortunately, Team USA came back and scored three more to take a 6-3 win.

The United States found an easy win over Kazakhstan. They stormed through them 6-1. The final game in the preliminary round came against the undefeated defending champ Czech team, who eliminated the U.S from the playoffs last year. Czechia had the lead at the end of the second, 2-1. However, a series of power plays helped the U.S to a 5-2 victory.

Finishing the preliminaries 5-1-0-1, the United States advanced to the playoffs. In the first round, the U.S faced off with the 4-2-0-1 Finnish team. Much like earlier games, the U.S got hot late. After being down 2-1, the U.S scored four straight for another 5-2 win.

Canada would not join the United States in the second round, as they were upset in the first round by Denmark. Denmark scored two goals in the final three minutes of the game for the 2-1 win. This is the second time Denmark has ever beaten Canada and marked the first semifinal appearance ever for the team.

Photo by IIHF. Tage Thompson’s game-winning goal over Switzerland.

In the semifinals, the U.S squared off with Sweden. The U.S held strong and outscored the Swedes 6-2 to advance to the finals. In the finals, they met Switzerland. The Swiss team reached the finals for the second year in a row as they shut out Austria 6-0 in the first round and Denmark 7-0 in the semifinals.

The U.S and Swiss goaltenders battled through three periods. Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni saved 39/39 in regular time. U.S goalie Jeremy Swayman saved 24/24 in that time. Sitting at 0-0, the finals moved into overtime.

Here, the United States staked their claim as World Champions once again, as Thompson fired a shot passed Genoni for the 1-0 victory.

This was the United States’ first medal since 2021, where they won bronze over Latvia. Earlier on Saturday, Sweden defeated Denmark 6-2 for the bronze medal.

Sources-

IIHF

About Post Author

Zachary Worstell

A Marietta College Student with three years of journalism experience writing for Marietta's Marcolian Online Newspaper. He was promoted to Editor in Chief of the Marcolian in 2023. A Pittsburgh native, he covers sports from the Pittsburgh region as well as Ohio and West Virginia.

zach102803@gmail.com

https://ngscsports.com/