United States leads Czechia after second period in semifinal at World Juniors
Published
The United States have a 2-1 lead over Czechia after the second period in the semifinal at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa.
Cole Eiserman scored on the power play just over halfway through the period as he took a pass from Trevor Connelly and fired the puck past Michael Hrabal for the 2-1 lead. Cole Hutson picked up the other assist on the play.
Leading up to the goal, Adam Kleber took the first penalty of the second period, a two-minute high-sticking call, giving the Czechs their second power play of the game. About halfway through the power play, Tomas Galvas took a high-sticking penalty, sending it to 4-on-4. The Americans got the abbreviated power play that Eiserman scored on when 4-on-4 expired.
The Americans started the second period on the power play as Czechia’s Adam Zidlicky was serving his two-minute roughing penalty he took with 1:36 remaining in the first. The U.S. had one shot on goal during the man advantage and failed to score.
Gabe Perreault opened the scoring in the first period when he took a diving pass from captain Ryan Leonard and deked to beat Czech goaltender Michael Hrabal for the 1-0 lead. Aram Minnetian picked up the other assist on the goal.
Jakub Stancl tied the game halfway through the first period when he took advantage of a Logan Hensler turnover and beat American goaltender Trey Augustine with a shot over the glove from the left circle.
The winner of this semifinal will face Finland in the gold-medal game on Sunday while the loser will take on Sweden for bronze. The United States is looking to repeat as World Junior champions while Czechia looks to improve on last year’s bronze medal finish.