OSTRAVA, Czech Republic – The United States takes on the Czech Republic in the fourth and final preliminary game of the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championships tonight at 7 p.m. local time at Ostravar Arena. NHL Network will broadcast the game live at 1 p.m. ET.
Team USA is 2-0-0-1 in this year’s tournament, while the Czech Republic currently stands at 1-0-0-1. Heading into yesterday’s games, all five Group B teams were tied at 1-0-0-1; since the tournament reformatted group play in 1996, no World Junior Championship group has featured a five-way tie after two games.
Team USA defeated Russia 3-1 last night and took the lead in preliminary Group B play, and is now only one of two teams with a positive goal differential. Today’s game will complete the second set of back-to-back games in preliminary play. The U.S. has played well in recent history in game two of back-to-back sets, including a 6-3 win over Germany in Game 2 of 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship preliminary play. USA is 6-1-1-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) in second games of back-to-back sets in its last eight preliminary matchups.
