Team USA beats Czech Republic in World Junior quarterfinals
By @MichaelCaples –
Canada lost today. So did Sweden.
The Americans didn’t suffer the same fate, however.
In the first day of elimination rounds at the 2019 World Juniors in British Columbia, Team USA beat the Czech Republic 3-1 in the third of four quarterfinal match-ups.
Sweden lost 2-0 to Switzerland, while Canada lost to Finland 2-1 in overtime after the Finns scored with 47 seconds left in regulation to tie it.
The fourth quarterfinal match-up is Russia/Slovakia, which is slated to start at 10:30 p.m. ET.
With the victory, the U.S. improves to 4-0-1 in the tournament; their only loss in the preliminary round came to Sweden in overtime after the U.S. clawed its way back from a three-goal deficit in the final ten minutes of play.
Wednesday night, it was Oxford native Josh Norris scoring the deciding goal, set up by Northville native Jason Robertson. Team USA’s first strike had a particular Michigan flair to it, as well, as NTDP star Jack Hughes set up Noah Cates for the game’s first goal. The final goal in the contest came off the stick of fellow Northville native Sasha Chmelevski – an empty-netter to wrap things up for Team USA.
The Norris goal:
Michigan connection – Northville native Jason Robertson to Oxford native Josh Norris (@umichhockey) for the 2-0 goal. #WorldJuniors #WJC2019 #USAWJC 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/qMvs48p8pE
— Stefan Kubus (@StefanKubus) January 3, 2019
The Cates goal:
Jack Hughes at it again, stealing the puck and setting up Noah Cates for an all-around gorgeous goal. #WJC2019 🇺🇸🇨🇿👀 pic.twitter.com/EPEhvtyOPE
— Stefan Kubus (@StefanKubus) January 3, 2019
The U.S. will now prepare for Friday’s semifinal round; puck drops for those two games are 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET. Team USA will be playing the winner of Russia/Slovakia.