Team USA, which is currently undefeated, will play an undefeated Czechia tomorrow to determine the tournament’s first-place finisher at 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET) at Ed Robson Arena. The game can be seen live on Hockey TV and tickets can be purchased here.
“Anytime you put yourself in the situation to come into a tournament and now play for the title is a really good feeling,” Jablonic added. “We’re confident in our abilities but we also understand that Czechia that’s well respected and we get to show up tomorrow and earn that opportunity. We’re incredibly excited for that.”
But tonight, it would be just 25 seconds before the U.S. scored its first of the game. Dallas Vieau (Hermantown, Minn.) fired a shot from the point and Andrew DellaSalla (Rye, N.Y.) tipped it in to take a 1-0 lead. John Stout (Minnetonka, Minn.) also picked up an assist on the play. Vieau made it 2-0 at the 12:57 mark with a powerplay goal. Connor Bewick (Gurnee, Ill.) sent the puck up the ice to Chase Stefanek (Yorba Linda, Calif.). Stefanek carried it into the zone and passed it to Vieau, who was able to get it past Slovakia’s Sebastian Bodnar.
DellaSalla scored his second of the game off a tic-tac-toe passing play between Mac Swanson (Anchorage, Alaska) and Geno Carcone (Woodstock, Ga.). DellaSalla was able to finish it off, sending the puck over the glove hand of the Slovakian goaltender.
