Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault combined for two beautiful goals to lead the United States to a 4-1 win over Czechia in the late semi-final. Each had a goal and an assist tonight for the winners while Adam Minnetian added two assists. Zeev Buium, meanwhile, quietly played 29:12 and was a stud on the blue line.
"It's so fun playing with him," Perreault said of his chemistry with Leonard. "I think when you play with a guy for that long, it kind of makes the transition in a tournament like this a lot easier. I'm lucky we were clicking tonight, and we were able to get a couple. This feels unreal. It's what we came here for. So I'm really excited for tomorrow."
The win sets up a gold-medal game against the Finns. The teams have played only once before for gold, that in 2019, a 3-2 Finland win in Vancouver.
"We know it's going to be a really tough test once again," Perreault added. "But I think if we clean up our puck management and turnovers and then just play our game, we should be in a good spot."
The Czechs, seeking their third straight World Juniors medal, will play Sweden in the early game tomorrow for bronze.
"They're a very skilled team," Jakub Stancl said of Czechia's opponents tomorrow. "They can play physically also. We don't want to leave Ottawa with nothing, so it's motivation to beat them. You always want to win a medal. Sadly, it's not going to be silver or gold, but we just want the bronze now."
"I think the U.S. played a really strong game," offered Czech coach Patrik Augusta. "They were waiting for their chances, and they weren't cheating for them. And we gave it to them at the end. I think it was a close game, 2-1, and I'm a bit disappointed we didn't give ourselves a better chance at the end of the game. But we have a chance to finish the tournament with a win, and hopefully we're going to be ready."
The Finns have won five gold, five silver, and seven bronze medals in World Junior history. The U.S. has six gold, two silver, and seven bronze.
This was the game Canada was supposed to be playing in, so the large crowd at Canadian Tire Centre was in a conundrum—support Czechia, which had eliminated Canada in the quarter-finals, or support the dreaded rivals United States? In the end, they chose mostly silence, except when Petr Sikora had the puck for Czechia. Then the boos rained down. Sikora was the one who drew the five-minute major and game misconduct to Canada's Cole Beaudoin in the previous game.
The Czechs had a great chance to open the scoring when Adam Jecho hit the crossbar early on, but it was the Americans who first put a puck into the net at 3:14. It was all thanks to a great effort by captain Leonard, who was sporting a full visor to protect not one but two facial injuries sustained in the quarter-finals.
Leonard hustled around Jakub Dvorak, but the puck skittered out of his reach. He dove and swatted the puck to the middle for Gabe Perreault, and Perreault made a pretty deke on goalie Michael Hrabal to make it 1-0 for the U.S.
Adam Novotny tied it for the Czechs midway through the period when he got to a loose puck along the left boards. Trey Augustine was not entirely set and too snug to the near post, and Novotny had room to work with past Augustine’s glove on the far side, making it 1-1 at 9:28.
The U.S. had a great chance to go ahead on another Leonard-Perreault connection. This time Leonard made the pass, and Perreault went in alone, but Hrabal stood tall and made a great save. Soon after, on a late power play, Perreault hit the base of the post with another shot.
The second period was conservative and almost void of scoring chances. Teams were cautious in the extreme, not creating much, not giving up much. But midway through referees gave each team a penalty, overlapping, creating a bit of four-on-four and a short power play either way. The Americans capitalized with theirs.
Trevor Connelly fought his way down the left side and found Cole Eiserman high on the other side. Eiserman ripped into a one-timer, and even 6’6"/2.04m Hrabal couldn’t get over in time to make the save.
The Czechs had a great chance to tie soon after when Adam Novotny came right down the middle unscathed, but his shot hit Augustine in the stomach for what turned out to be an easy save. Novotny smacked his stick on the ice in regret.
Needing a goal, the Czechs came out a more aggressive group in the third, and the Americans were probably more passive in response than they likely would have wanted. The result was a fair amount of play in the U.S. end, but try as they might they couldn't beat Augustine. Midway through, he made the save of the tournament. He kicked out one shot right onto the stick of Jecho, who was staring at a wide open net. He didn't get quite all of the shot he wanted, but the American goalie extended his right pad to deny the tying goal with a sensational save.
That seemed to be a wakeup call for the U.S. They started to get the puck deep again, forcing the Czechs to turn around and chase after the disc. A too many men penalty didn't help their efforts to tie the game, but this time Hrabal stood tall to keep it a one-goal game with about six minutes remaining.
The U.S. scored late to extend their lead, capitalizing on a bad Czechia line change. Perreault again sent a beautiful pass through the crease for a Leonard tap-in at 15:33 to put the game away.
Oliver Moore salted the victory with an empty netter at 18:53.
