Montreal Canadiens’ Jan Mysak contributed to one of the big upsets at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton on Wednesday night by helping the Czechs upset the United States 4-2 in the quarterfinals.
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The Habs’ second-round pick, 48th overall in the 2020 National League Draft, scored the first goal for his team with just over two minutes remaining in the first period. His success allowed the winners to equalize 1-1 after Logan Cooley’s goal.
Consequently, the European team meets Canada in the semifinals on Friday. However, they had signed only one win in four games in the preliminary round and were beaten 5 to 1 in front of their next opponent.
“I think we learned a lesson against Latvia,” Mysak told the International Ice Hockey Federation website, referring to a disappointing 5-2 loss to Latvia a few days ago. We learned that they wanted to win more than we did. So we lost. This time we tried to do the same. We wanted to win more than they did and that’s why we won. We blocked shots, we ate pucks and we succeeded.
“Terrible”
Obviously, the discourse in the American dressing room was very different. Before the knockout duels, the country’s representatives had taken the honor of their four duels from Uncle Sam.
“It’s awful,” Cooley said. For guys born in 2002, this was surely their last chance. The way it ended is terrible. However, I’m happy with the way the guys fought and I can’t question their performance. The Czechs like to finish the game in the middle. I think we just had to send the puck a little lower [dans leur zone] and it didn’t happen often.”
The United States suffered their first defeat against the Czechs since 2011 in this tournament. Gold medalists at the last competition, they will settle for fifth place this year.