Team USA took top prize in the IIHF World Junior Championships. After Filip Sandberg of Sweden opened the scoring in the second, Rocco Grimaldi scored two goals and Vince Trocheck put away an empty netter with 16 seconds left.(Both Grimaldi and Trocheck are Florida Panthers draftees.)
Meanwhile, Russia beat Canada 6-5 in overtime to take the bronze medal and send the Canadian team home empty-handed. Nikita Nesterov had one assist and was a -1. Nikita Kucherov was also a -1, while Artem Sergeev was a +2. Neither Kucherov nor Sergeev had any points in the game. Andrei Vasilevski did not dress for the game.
Final standings:
- USA
- Sweden
- Russia
- Canada
- Czech Republic
- Switzerland
- Finland
- Slovakia
- Germany
- Latvia (relegated)
Next year, the tournament will have a new format. From the IIHF:
All eight teams will play in the quarter-finals; the 5th-place game will be eliminated; and, the bottom two teams in each group will play a best-of-three to determine which country gets demoted.
Groups for the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship:
Group A: USA (1), Canada (4), Czech Republic (5), Slovakia (8), Germany (9).
Group B: Sweden (2), Russia (3), Switzerland (6), Finland (7), Norway (10).
