POPRAD, Slovakia – Sean Dhooghe (Aurora, Ill.) scored the game-winning goal with :21 remaining in overtime to give the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team a 4-3 victory against Sweden here tonight in the semifinals of the 2017 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship.
The U.S. will play Finland tomorrow (April 23) in the gold-medal game at 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) live on NHL Network.
“Everyone was out there doing their jobs tonight,” said U.S. Head Coach John Wroblewski (Neenah, Wis.). “It was a terrific hockey game and we’re certainly happy to win the game, but will quickly shift our focus to the job at hand tomorrow night.”
Michael Pastujov (Bradenton, Fla.), Max Gildon (Plano, Texas) and Quinn Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) also scored for the U.S. in the victory.
U.S. netminder Dylan St. Cyr (Northville, Mich.) stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced to earn his sixth victory of the tournament.
A full game recap, highlights, interviews and box score can be found here.
2017 U.S. IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship Schedule
Date Opponent Round
Time/Results (Local/ET)
Television
April 13 Belarus Preliminary W, 7-0 NHL Network
April 15 Russia Preliminary W, 5-4 NHL Network
April 17 Czech Republic Preliminary W, 5-2 NHL Network
April 18 Sweden Preliminary W, 5-1 NHL Network
April 20 Switzerland Quarterfinals W, 4-2 NHL Network
April 22 Sweden Semifinals W, 4-3 (OT) NHL Network
April 23 Finland Gold-Medal 7:30 p.m. / 1:30 p.m. NHL Network
Notes: The U.S. outshot Sweden 44-29 … Team USA went 1-4 on the power play while Sweden was 1-5 … Quinn Hughes was honored as the U.S. Player of the Game … Dylan St. Cyr, Sean Dhooghe and Quinn Hughes were honored as USA’s Top Three Players of the Tournament … Sean Dhooghe leads the U.S. with nine points (3-6-9) in six games … Team USA improved its all-time record against Sweden to 12-2-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) … The U.S. is now 7-5-1-2 all-time in semifinal games … The U.S. will compete for its record 10th gold medal … The U.S. will face Finland in the gold-medal game for the third time … The U.S. is 7-2-0-3 all-time in gold medal games … For complete tournament information, visit the IIHF website. Team USA News, interviews, highlights and more can be found on the Team USA website … Follow @USAHockey on Twitter for live scoring updates during the tournament. Scores will be designated with the #U18Worlds tag … For additional coverage, visit the USA Hockey Facebook page and Instagram account.
