PLYMOUTH, Mich. — It wasn’t the result they would have liked, but the U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Team left the 2025 Under-17 Four Nations Tournament knowing they still grew their game with their second-place finish. 

The Americans had gone undefeated in the preliminary round, posting a 3-0 record, but fell to Czechia 5-3 in the championship game Saturday at USA Hockey Arena. 

The team, which had only played together once before this tournament, outscored opponents 19-14 across four games.

“It’s funny sometimes, because sports, hockey, it’s not always a fair game, someone has to win and someone has to lose,” Jason Guerriero, head coach of the U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Team, said. “But from Aug. 1, when we first hit the ice as a group, to now, it’s a completely different team. They found a way to get better every day and the found a way to push each other to do that.”

It was also a breakout opportunity for many players in front of college and USHL scouts. The line of Gerry DiCunzolo, Colin Grubb and Ethan Sung was particularly noticeable with all three players co-leading the tournament with eight points.

“We all kind of found ways to play for each other and to figure out how to be more than just good individual players,” Sung said. “We listened to the coaches, everyone on the team did, and it was a good way to find ways to improve your game.”

Sung also said his first opportunity to represent Team USA won’t be forgotten.

“It’s a real honor to represent your country, and you learn a lot about your game and the sport in general in something like this,” Sung said. “That’s something that’ll really stick with me going forward.”

In the championship game, Czechia opened the scoring on a breakaway goal after a wonky bounce, where an attempted dump-in by the Americans deflected off the official near the blue line and back to the neutral zone, setting up a breakaway for Adam Nemec.

Nemec flipped his shot over Mason Courville’s glove for the 1-0 lead at 15:18 of the first period.

Grubb tied the game at 1-1 less than a minute later when he lasered a one-timer from the right circle. It was Grubb’s first goal of the tournament and came on a clean feed from Jake Prunty at the left point.

Michael Tang gave the Americans their first lead with 5:15 remaining in the opening period, slipping a backhand shot past Vaclav Osvald to go up 2-1.

But Czechia responded with 1:31 remaining in the period on a goal by Melichar Kovar, sending the teams to the first intermission tied at 2-2.

Czechia struck twice in a span of 35 seconds early in the second period to take a 4-2 lead, capitalizing on goals by Lukas Hajek and Jonas Vanicek. Both goals came with hectic traffic in front of the net.

Team USA cut the deficit to 4-3 with 10:30 remaining in the second period on a hard-working shift by Ty Bergeron, who dug out a rebound after an initial shot by DiCunzolo and found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the tournament.

That was it offensively for Team USA, while Czechia made it 5-3 in the third period on another goal by Nemec with 10:59 remaining.

Courville stopped 25 of 30 shots for Team USA, while Osvald stopped 22 in the victory for Czechia. 

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.