The United States improved to a record of three wins and one loss on Monday at the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic with a 4-3 win over the Czech Republic. The American hero was Montreal Canadiens prospect Cole Caufield of Stevens Point, WI who scored the overtime winner.
Caufield, a right winger who plays for the University of Wisconsin Badgers, scored from Alex Turcotte of Island Lake, IL at 3:14 of the extra period. It would be Caufield’s only point of the game and it turned out to be very significant.
Two players on the United States who had a multi-point game were Arthur Kaliyev of Staten Island, NY and Trevor Zegras of Bedford, NY. Kaliyev, a left winger, had one goal and one assist for two points and Zegras had two assists. Kaliyev is a second round draft pick, 33rd overall, by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2019 National Hockey League Entry Draft and Zegras is a first round draft pick, ninth overall, by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2019 National Hockey League Entry Draft.
The other American goal scorer was Shane Pinto of Franklin Square, NY. Pinto, a centre, was the Ottawa Senators, second round draft pick, 32nd overall, in the 2019 National Hockey League Entry Draft.
In the American win, the United States went up 1-0 in the first period only to see Libor Zabransky score twice to see the Czech Republic take as 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes. The Americans then went up 3-2 in the second period but the Czech Republic marched back with the only goal in the third period to force overtime.
The United States finished second in Group B and will now face Finland in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The other quarterfinals have Canada versus Slovakia, Sweden versus the Czech Republic and Switzerland versus Russia.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
