How it turned out

The U.S. was focused on winning the match as they pulled a three-goal lead in the first period. The final score was 6-1. Colin Blackwell and Conor Garland scored twice for the Americans. Peter Cehlarik netted the consolation goal for Slovakia, going home without a medal for the ninth consecutive year.

The Americans are two wins away from winning the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship gold medal since their last in 1996. The best they have recorded in the 21st century are bronze medals in 2004, 2013, 2015, and 2018.

Finland vs Czech Republic

The defending champions had a solid lineup. The team didn’t appear overly dominant when they went to shootouts against Latvia and Kazakhstan and lost to the latter. However, Finland is known for its comebacks. Two years ago, Finland had finished 3rd in its group but beat ROC, Sweden, and Canada in do-or-die matches in Slovakia. Finland ended up winning the gold medal despite the bad start.

The Czech team was hard to describe. Even though the team looked lacking in-depth, they looked young and talented. Some of the players that Czech was banking on were Dominik Kubalik, Jakub Vrana, and Jan Kovar. They had a bad start after losing to Switzerland and ROC in the opening matches. After that, however, the Czechs recorded five straight wins to proceed to the quarters.

How it turned out

It was a goal game, and the Finns emerged as the winners. It was not until 35:55 that Jere Innala scored the only goal. The Czech had a scoring chance through Libor Sulak earlier in the game, but Olkinuora made the crucial save. The Czechs powerplay was only displayed during the last two minutes of the second period.