Montreal Canadiens prospect Jan Mysak contributed to one of the big upsets of the World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton on Wednesday night, helping the Czechs upset the United States 4-2 in the quarterfinals.
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The Habs’ second-round pick, 48e in total, in the 2020 National League draft scored the first goal of his team, with just over two minutes to go in the initial third. His success allowed the winners to create the equality 1 to 1 following the goal of Logan Cooley.
Consequently, the European team will face Canada in the semi-finals on Friday. However, they had signed only a victory in four outings during the preliminary phase, bowing in the passage 5 to 1 in front of their next opponents.
“I think we had 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, they wanted the win more than us. So we lost. This time we tried to do the same. We wanted to win more than them and that’s why we won. We blocked shots, we ate pucks and we got success.
“Horrible”
Obviously, the discourse was very different inside the American locker room. Before the knockout duels, the representatives of the country of Uncle Sam had taken the honors of their four clashes.
“It’s horrible,” Cooley said. Certainly, for guys born in 2002, this was their last chance. The way it ended is awful. However, I’m happy with the way the guys fought and I can’t question their effort. The Czechs like to close the game in the middle. I think we just had to send the puck a little deeper [dans leur zone] and it hasn’t happened often.”
The United States suffered their first loss to the Czechs since 2011 at this tournament. Gold medalists at the last competition, they will settle for fifth place this year.