The Boys? Well The Boys Are Most Certainly Buzzing As Team USA Dominates The Czechs 7-0 At The World Juniors
Who: USA vs Czech Republic
What: 2021 World Juniors. Game 3
When: 2pm EST
Where: The city that never sleeps. Edmonton, Alberta
Why: Ferda
No offense to Austria or anything like that--they're a wonderful group of people--but thank goodness they are pretty trash at hockey. Because that game on Saturday night was just what the doctor ordered for Team USA after dropping their tournament opener to Russia. 11-0 final. A 4-point night from Trevor Zegras. A 3-goal game out of Matthew Boldy. All but 4 players registering at least a point. That's how you get the party started.
And Team USA is going to need that party to carry over to this afternoon against the Czechs because this team is as pesky as ever. They got pumped by Sweden to open up the tournament on Christmas, but they followed that up with a 2-0 win over the Russians on Sunday night.
So heading into today, here's what the Group B Standings are looking like.
Russia plays Austria tonight and then finish up their preliminary round against Sweden tomorrow night. Sweden hasn't lost a preliminary round game in years, so let's just say that Russia splits those two games. Either way, that'll put them at 6 points and they'll have a big goal differential after Austria.
The Czechs also still have a game against Austria left. So that will put them with at least 6 points, too. But their goal differential right now is -4 so they'll have a bigger hill to climb.
Basically what I'm getting at here is this is pretty much a must-win for Team USA today. Beat the Czechs, keep it close and maybe force overtime against Sweden, you most likely won't have to face Canada until the semifinals. I don't even want to talk about what they'll have to do if they lose this game because the boys will come out buzzing like they've never buzzed before to take care of business. TCOB. That's what USA Hockey is all about. Now let's get to the game. Live Blog is officially activated.
(Make sure to follow along on Twitter @JordieBarstool for live updates/highlights. Blog will be updated after each period)
End of the 1st: USA 0 - Czech 0
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Not a ton of action in that period for either team. A couple chances here and there but both teams haven't been able to get much of anything going as far as sustained pressure goes. The US team keeps shooting themselves in the dick every time they try to carry the puck into the offensive zone. That first pass has been a constant turnover so yeah, boys might want to make some adjustments in the intermission real quick. Because the longer the Czechs stay in this game, the more confident they'll get.
The only "highlight" so far is from warmies where it appears that the team really wants Dustin Wolf to be between the pipes. So much so that they even attempted to go full Tonya Harding take out Spencer Knight.
But Knight has looked pretty solid in net so far today, so that's a good sign. 20 down, 40 to go. Get it going here, fellas.
End of the 2nd: USA 3 - Czech 0
That was the exact type of period that the Americans needed to have. Not only to get themselves going on the board, but to make sure the Czechs don't take any confidence into the 3rd and final period. First up it was future Flyers legend Bobby Brink with some great movement at the top of the zone, and then immediately after getting rid of the puck he got his ass to the front of the net. Good things happen when you put yourself in some gritty spots. Exhibit A:
It was definitely going to take a greasy goal to break this thing open, but Team USA's next goal was one of the prettier set-ups you'll see all tournament. And if you're a fan of the Anaheim Ducks, you're going to want to grab an extra pair of pants to toss on after this because it was Ducks prospect Henry Thrun with an unreal no-look pass to Ducks prospect Trevor Zegras for one of the easiest one-T putaways he'll have of his career.
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Completely fooled Parik with that fake. That was rude.
And finally, it was Bobby Orr Brink getting his ass to the front of the net again for his 2nd goal of the period. Good things happen when you put yourself in some gritty spots. Exhibit B:
Obviously still have 20 more to go here so there's way too much time to put this thing into cruise control. But that period for sure tilted the ice in this game and you couldn't have asked for a better middle frame.
Final Score: USA 7 - Czech 0
Well not only did Team USA not get put on their heels for the first 10 minutes here, but they threw a couple more in the back of the net themselves. It's a full blown shit pumping here, boys and girls. There's still a few more minutes left on the clock for for all intents and purposes, this one is over.
Let's just highlight a couple of goals here real quick before we close up shop on the live blog. First off, we have Cole Caufield getting himself on the board.
Caufield is the best scorer on the US team, but he's also one of the streakiest. He's either got himself going or you don't hear much of anything from him. The fact that he went pointless against Austria was a little worrisome. But getting himself on the board here was huge. Especially with the Sweden game coming up on NYE.
Gets himself behind the defensemen, calls for the puck, buries it 5-hole, feeling it. If that confidence rolls into Thursday night, he could be dangerous.
Also, this Matt Boldy goal was aggressively rude and I love everything about it.
USA was on the powerplay there because the Czechs got a delay of game penalty after trying to switch goalies. So they take a penalty, Parik stays in the net, and then Matthew Boldy goes between the legs on the powerplay to make it 7-0. Absolute dick move and I mean that in the best way possible. That's what I need out of my Team USA. Fuck feelings. Have no remorse and just inflict pain. And that's what Matthew Boldy did here. Kill switch hockey. I love it.
Boys are looking good. That's 18 goals for, 0 goals against in the past 2 games heading into the Sweden game for NYE. Just hope they left at least 4 goals left in the tank because that's what it's going to take to take down the Swedes. Give me a 4-3 overtime win to ring in the New Year.
I'll see everybody on Thursday night. Until then, USA Hockey Is Do Or Die.