MINSK, Belarus – Austin Czarnik (Washington, Mich.) scored three times and Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich.) stopped all 11 shots he faced as the U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team blanked the Czech Republic, 6-0, here today in the quarterfinals at the 2010 International Ice Hockey Federation World Men's Under-18 Championship. Team USA will meet Finland in the semifinal round Wednesday (April 21) at 3:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. EDT) at Sport Palace Minsk.

"I thought that was a very good result against a good Czech team," said Kurt Kleinendorst, head coach of Team USA. "Our special teams were on task as both the power play and penalty kill were efficient. Any time you get a shutout, the obvious praise goes to your goaltender, but in this case it was indicative of how we played as a team."

After a hotly contested first half of the opening period, Brandon Saad(Gibsonia, Pa.) staked the U.S. to a 1-0 lead when he took a feed from Jason Zucker (Las Vegas, Nev.) at the Czech blue line, skated into some space and snapped the puck just inside the right post at 13:34. Just 2:22 later,Rocco Grimaldi (Rossmoor, Calif.) wheeled behind the Czech net and threaded a pass to Czarnik, who tapped it past netminder Libor Kasik to double the U.S. advantage.

Team USA potted three more goals in the middle stanza to pull away from the Czechs. Czarnik netted his second marker at 11:44 when he took a drop pass from Grimaldi and wristed the puck from inside the left faceoff circle past Kasik for a power-play goal. Nick Shore (Denver, Colo.) added a power-play tally of his own when he converted on a cross-crease feed from Chase Balisy (Fullerton, Calif.) at 16:53. Just 20 seconds later, Czarnik netted his third of the game when he took a pass from Connor Brickley (Everett, Mass.), slid the puck to his backhand and deposited it into the top-left corner of the net to make it 5-0.

Bryan Rust (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) slammed home a centering feed from Austin Watson (Ann Arbor, Mich.) 3:36 into the final frame to cap the scoring.

NOTES: Austin Czarnik was named Team USA's Player of the Game. He now leads all U.S. players and is tied for third overall at the tournament with five goals ... Jack Campbell earned his second shutout of the tournament and fourth all-time at the IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championship. He leads all goaltenders at the 2010 IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championship with a 1.00 goals-against average and .958 save percentage ... Adam Clendening posted two assists and leads the U.S. with eight points. His six helpers are tied with Rocco Grimaldi for the team high ... Team USA out shot the Czechs by a 36-11 margin ... The U.S. has outscored its opponents 21-2 in its last four games ... The U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team has appeared in the semifinals in each of the last nine IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championships, an unprecedented feat ... Team USA's games are available via live webstream at USAHockey.FASTHockey.com... The U.S. has earned an unprecedented six consecutive medals at the IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championship, which includes three gold (2005, 2006, 2009), two silver (2004, 2007) and one bronze (2008). Team USA also captured the gold medal in 2002.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 2 3 1 -- 6
CZE 0 0 0 -- 0

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Saad (Zucker, Forbort), 13:34; 2, USA, Czarnik (Grimaldi), 15:56. Penalties: CZE, Kindl (tripping), 3:15; CZE, Team (too many players), 5:32; USA, Faulk (interference), 6:01; USA, Watson (charging), 10:12; CZE, Kindl (interference), 18:29; USA, Zucker (charging), 19:44.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, USA, Czarnik (Clendening, Watson), 11:44 (pp); 4, USA, Shore (Balisy, Clendening), 16:53 (pp); 5, USA, Czarnik (Brickley, Grimaldi), 17:13. Penalties: USA, Tinordi (holding), 6:34; CZE, Zovinec (slashing), 9:12; CZE, Frk (boarding), 9:47; CZE, Hantak (holding), 14:18; CZE, Pavlik (interference), 15:26.

Third Period - Scoring: 6, USA, Rust (Watson, Shore), 3:36 (pp). Penalties: CZE, Koudela (high-sticking), 1:46; USA, Watson (interference), 4:05; USA, Johns (slashing), 5:23; CZE, Frk (cross-checking), 11:11; USA, Tinordi (hooking), 14:57; USA, Forbort (high sticking), 16:47; USA, Clendening (cross-checking), 17:47.

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total
USA 16 13 7 36
CZE 3 5 3 11
         
Goaltenders (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Campbell, 60:00 3-3 5-5 3-3 11-11
CZE, Kasik, 37:13 16-14 12-9 x-x 28-23
CZE, Will, 22:47 x-x 1-1 7-6 8-7

Power Play: USA 3-9; CZE 0-9
Penalties: USA 9-18; CZE 9-18
Officials: Referees - Viktor Gashilov (RUS), Jozef Kubus (SVK); Linesmen - Chris Carlson (CAN), Dmitry Golyak (BLR)
Attendance: 3,000