Vladislav Koutsky made 38 saves to lead the Czech Republic to a 3-1 victory over the US in the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The loss Thursday dropped the Americans into third place in Group A with a 2-2 record. The US team will face Sweden in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The Swedes beat Slovakia 3-0 Thursday.
"He definitely played really well," American Drew Stafford said of Koutsky. "We had a lot of opportunities to tie the game in the third period. We can't dwell on this, we have to keep plugging away."
The Czechs took the lead when Rostislav Olesz beat American goalie Al Montoya with a shot high on the glove side at 12:56 of the first period.
In the second period, Lukas Bolf knocked down a clearing attempt at his own blue line and found Lukas Kaspar streaking toward the net to put the Czechs up 2-0.
Dan Fritsche cut the deficit to 2-1 when he slipped down the boards and beat Koutsky over the shoulder on the stick side. The Americans took 39 shots on goal, but struggled to put the puck past Koutsky.
"I think it helped out a bit," Koutsky said through an interpreter. "You know when a goalie faces a lot of shots it helps him stay in the zone."
The Czechs (3-1) added an empty-net goal in the final minute. They finished second in Group A and will play Finland on Saturday.
In Thursday's first game, Jeff Carter scored three goals in the second period to lead Canada to an 8-1 victory over Finland. Corey Perry added a pair of goals, while Jeff Glass made 19 saves for Canada (4-0).
The win earned Canada the top seed in Group B and a bye into the semifinals, which begin Sunday.
"It's nice to come out undefeated," Carter said. "But we still have a long way to go."
Canada has outscored its four opponents 32-5 and allowed just one goal in its last eight periods of play.
"This team is unbelievable," Carter said. "We knew we had some chemistry coming into the tournament, but it just keeps getting better and better. We were clicking today."
Canada needed just seven seconds of power play time to score the game's first goal, when Perry knocked in a loose puck at 4:45 of the first period.
"Today was a day where we were a very focused hockey club," coach Brent Sutter said. "Right from the opening face off we were focused on what we needed to do."
In Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Russia finished pool play with a 6-1 win over Switzerland. The Russians (3-1) scored a pair of goals in the final three minutes of the second period and finished first in Group A.
Despite identical 3-1 records, Russia finished ahead of the Czech Republic because of its 4-1 win over the Czechs on Monday.
Sweden, Slovakia and Finland all finished 2-2 in Group B, but only the Swedes and Finns advanced to the quarterfinals because they scored more goals in games between the tied teams.
Slovakia will play Belarus (1-3) on Sunday in the relegation round. The Swiss (1-3), who also failed to advance, will play Germany (0-4) on Saturday.
Jeff Carter scored three goals in the second period to lead Canada to an 8-1 victory over Finland.
Corey Perry added a pair of goals and Jeff Glass made 19 saves for Canada (4-0) on Thursday.
The win earns Canada the top seed in Group B and a bye to the tournament semifinals, which begin Sunday. Finland finished pool play at 2-2. Canada has outscored four opponents 32-5 and allowed just one goal in its final eight periods.
Canada needed just 7 seconds of power play to score the game's first goal. Perry knocked in a shot that ricocheted off the back boards to the front of the net at 4:45 of the first period.
"Today was a day where we were a very focused hockey club," Canada coach Brent Sutter said. "Right from the opening faceoff we were focused on what we needed to do."
In Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Russia finished pool play with a 6-1 win over Switzerland to finish 3-1 in Group A.
Russia scored a pair of goals in the final 3 minutes of the second period. The Swiss (1-3) will play Germany Saturday in the consolation game.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was