U.S. Wins Silver Medal at U-20 World Championships
The U.S. men’s junior national team earned the silver medal at the U-20 World Championships in Croatia this week.
The U.S. fell to Spain, 14-11, in Saturday’s final in Zagreb. It dropped the first two games of the tournament before winning four straight to reach the finale. The second-place finish is the highest in program history at the tournament.
Ryan Ohl scored three goals in Saturday’s final. Charles Mills made 11 saves in goal. The U.S. went down 3-1 after one quarter before a six-goal second period gave it a 7-5 lead at the break.
But Spain scored six goals in the fourth, led by six goals on the game from Albert Sabadell, to break it open. His goal with 2:28 left put Spain up for good at 12-11.
Ben Liechty, Bode Brinkema and captain Ryder Dodd scored twice each for the U.S. Goals by Brinkema, Corbin Stanley and Liechty put the U.S. ahead three times in the fourth quarter. But Biel Gomila, who scored twice, tied the game at 11 with 4:33 left, before Sabadell’s fifth goal put Spain in front for the last time.
The U.S. had opened the tournament with a 19-10 loss to Croatia last Saturday, despite four goals from Dodd, and a 13-12 setback to Hungary in which Dodd and Jonathan Carcarey each registered hat tricks.
But the U.S. rebounded to top Montenegro, 16-10, behind 11 saves from Mills. William Schneider scored four times in that game, with Dodd and Brinkema adding hat tricks. The U.S. got to the quarterfinals via a 23-5 handling of Iran, powered by Stanley’s four goals and 14 saves from Baxter Chelsom.
The U.S. got revenge on Hungary in the quarters, 18-16, thanks to six goals from Dodd. Dodd tied that game at 13 early in the fourth quarter, the start of a 4-0 U.S. run that included Peter Castillo supplying the game-winner before a Dodd penalty shot and an Ohl goal.
The semifinals brought a 19-18 slugfest with Serbia decided in the shootout. The U.S. led by two with two minutes left before Serbia tied it with 55 seconds left. Chesholm stopped Vuk Kojik on Serbia’s fourth attempt. Max Zelikov and Landon Akerstrom converted their chances to help the U.S. go 5-for-5. Mills made 10 saves in regulation, and Dodd was the only multi-goal scorer with seven tallies plus the first in the shootout.