EDMONTON, Alberta – Team USA (4-0-0-0) enters the elimination round of the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship tonight at Rogers Place, facing off against Czechia (1-0-1-2) at 10:30 p.m. ET on NHL Network.
In their most recent matchup, Team USA took down Czechia, 7-0, in the preliminary round en route to its fifth gold medal at the 2021 tournament. Trevor Zegras had two goals and three assists, Bobby Brink scored twice and Spencer Knight made 22 saves to help the U.S. National Junior Team win its second game of the tournament and a spot in the quarterfinals. In the victory, 11 players recorded a point with four players recording at least two points.
With a win, the U.S. can advance to the semifinal round for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments. In the quarterfinal round of the 2021 tournament, Slovakia snapped a U.S. three-game shutout streak, but the offensive attack led the U.S. to its first quarterfinal win over Slovakia in tournament history as John Farinacci scored two goals.
The U.S. holds an all-time record of 14-2-1-7-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) against Czechia and have outscored the team, 93-67. In its last 10 matchups, which dates back to the preliminary round of the 2009 tournament, the U.S. has come out on top on nine occasions. In that span, the U.S. has outscored Czechia, 51-18, with three shutouts and five games where Team USA scored five or more goals. There has been six occasions where the U.S. faced Czechia in the quarterfinal round all-time, most recently in 2019 where the U.S. topped the Czechs, 3-1.
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