With two of its best players out injured and a 17-year old goaltender making his World Junior Championship debut, the United States lost 6-3 to Sweden on Wednesday night at Grand Casino Arena.
A loud, announced crowd of 18,618 saw the Americans finish second in Group A pool play at 3-1, while Sweden won the group at 4-0.
The U.S. plays either Finland or Czechia, whichever winds up as Group B’s third-place team, in a 5 p.m. quarterfinal Friday at Grand Casino Arena. A loss would eliminate the hosts, who have won the last two WJC titles. The Americans beat the Swedes for the 2024 WJC crown.
“It’s never fun to lose when you have that many people supporting you,” said USA winger and Woodbury product Will Zellers, who scored his fifth goal of the tournament. “I feel we shot ourselves in the foot at times with some unlucky turnovers against a team that’s going to produce with little to no space.
“This changes our mindset a little bit because it’s do or die now. We have to flush it and learn from it.”
After older goaltenders Nick Kempf and Caleb Heil split time during previous games, Team USA coach Bob Motzko on Wednesday turned to Brady Knowling, a Boston University commit and projected NHL first-round draft pick, who was added to the American roster two weeks ago. The Chicago resident stopped 23 shots and didn’t shine, but his teammates also played spotty defense and committed too many turnovers.
“We’d made the decision to get him in at some point and tonight was the night,” Motzko said. “We don’t fault him for the mistakes we made against a team with an enormous amount of talent.”
Minnesota-Duluth forward Max Plante and Boston University defenseman Cole Hutson were out hurt; the latter, considered by some as the tournament’s best rearguard, for a second consecutive game. Both are WJC veterans and, while Motzko said Plante isn’t likely to return soon, he said a Hutson appearance in the quarterfinals looks likely.
Team USA had several prime scoring chances during the opening 12 minutes but surrendered the first period’s lone goal on an unfortunate deflection. Casper Juustovaara’s attempted cross-crease pass towards an open Milton Gastrin at the right post instead deflected off the skate of American defenseman Logan Hensler and past Knowling.
“They come on us right from the beginning and a couple of our players have never been in this kind of building and with this kind of crowd,” said Swedish coach Magnus Havelid, whose team returned three players from last year’s competition. “We were lucky when we got the first goal, and it gave us confidence and we grew to have a very good second period.”
Sweden pushed its lead to 3-0 during the second period’s first six minutes. Eddie Genborg beat Knowling from the bottom of the left circle on a power play set up by a goaltender interference call on Ryker Lee. Three minutes later, an onrushing Lucas Pettersson ripped a shot from the right circle and inside the far post.
The U.S. brought the building alive with a man-advantage tally of its own three minutes later. Defenseman Chase Reid, whose WJC performance thus far could boost him near the top of the 2026 NHL draft, skated in through the right circle to put home a rebound after Swedish goaltender Love Harenstam made a stellar save while on the seat of his pants.
The potential American comeback gained steam when Harenstam was whistled for diving after a collision with Zellers atop his crease. Instead, a glaring U.S. giveaway at its offensive blue line led to another Swedish rush, a shorthanded goal for Pettersson and a 4-1 lead with seven minutes remaining in the second.
The Swedes went up 5-1 with another power-play strike before the U.S pulled within 5-2 with five minutes remaining in the middle stanza. Zellers put in the rebound of a Brodie Ziemer shot off a wide left rush.
Kempf relieved Knowling for the third.
Team USA’s L.J. Mooney soon passed off the left wall to Teddy Stiga in the low slot, from where he deflected in the feed to make the score 5-3 early in the third.
Anger swirled through the arena when American defenseman Luke Osburn was penalized for delay of game after chipping the puck over the glass in his own zone. Osburn was clearly boarded by an unpenalized Genborg a split second later, and when A.J. Spellacy was soon after sent off for a high hit that Pettersson seemed to embellish, the crowd booed lustily.
By the time NHL prospect Ivar Stenberg popped in a rebound that Kempf dropped in the crease during Sweden’s 5-on-3 power play, resignation had set in.
“We want to dump pucks in and see the other team’s (back) numbers,” Zellers said when asked what aspect of the U.S. game most needs to be stressed. “Getting them behind their defense, and finishing our hits and wearing them down. But we have to back check and make sure they don’t get those odd-man rushes.
“It ramps up our intensity, knowing it’s do or die now. The last thing we want is not to win the gold. That’s our only goal. This loss motivates us a little more and it’s fuel to our fire.”
Motzko said earlier in the tournament that he wasn’t insistent his team win its group so much as it enter the knockout round playing its best. The Americans don’t appear to have quite reached that goal but a bigger one looms ahead.
“We fumbled the ball and they ran it in the end zone,” Motzko said. “But our play, especially at the start of the game was how we want to play. We have to (forget), because now the tournament truly starts.”
Briefly
Sweden has won two gold medals, 12 silver and seven bronze since the World Juniors officially debuted in 1977. The U.S. clocks in at 7-2-7… The tournament’s last-place team is relegated to the world junior “B” pool for next year’s tournament, while Norway, winner of that level this year, has earned promotion to the “A” pool.
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