The USA’s ice hockey juniors have won the U20 World Cup for the sixth time. The US team beat hosts Sweden 6-2 (1-0, 2-2, 3-0) in the final on Friday evening thanks to a strong final third.
Gabe Perreault (17th), Isaac Howard (30th/35th), Zeev Buium (42nd), Ryan Leonard (57th) and Rutger McGroarty (57th) ensured silence in the Scandinavium, which was almost sold out with 11,512 spectators. Otto Steinberg (23rd) and Jonathan Lekkerimaki (40th) were successful for the Swedes. Lekkerimaki was also named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Canada’s conquerors, the Czech Republic, secured the bronze medal against Finland. At 8:5 (1:2, 2:3, 5:0), last year’s vice world champion scored four goals in 40 seconds in the final third and thus turned around one deficit.
The German team missed the quarter-finals, but secured relegation in the relegation game against Norway thanks to a goal from Moritz Elias in extra time.