(WGR 550) – Germany pulled off another upset at the World Championship on Saturday, beating Team USA in overtime and earning a spot in the Gold Medal game on Sunday against Canada.
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German forward Frederik Tiffels came down the left wing during the 3-on-3 overtime and beat Casey DeSmith (Pittsburgh Penguins) high to the far-side, it’s a goal DeSmith absolutely just can’t let in.
Team USA blew a 2-0 lead, which they earned by scoring twice in the first four minutes of the game.
Alex Tuch had a hand in both goals. He went to the net hard and Drew O'Connor (Penguins) gave him a perfect pass for a layup.
Tuch then led a breakout to Rocco Grimaldi, who scored the second goal for the Americans. Tuch now has five goals and three assists for eight points in nine games.
Germany just kept chipping away, and goals by Tiffels and Maksymilian Szuber tied it before the period was over.
JJ Peterka picked up an assist, and is one point off of leading the tournament in scoring with five goals and six assists for 11 points in nine games. Peterka played 23:08 in this game, and somehow wasn’t selected as one of Germany’s best three players in the tournament. In any game I saw, until this one, he was their best player.
The Americans looked like they were going to break their 10-game semifinal losing streak, but with just 1:23 left in regulation time with the goaltender pulled, DeSmith left a big rebound that Marcel Noebels converted to send the game to overtime.
DeSmith had a pretty good tournament until this game, as he wasn’t as sharp as he needed to be when Team USA needed him the most.
Tuch played 18:03 in this game, and he was selected as one of the Americans’ best players in the tournament. Team USA will now play Latvia for Bronze on Sunday.
Team USA entered the game 8-0-0 and lost, while Team Canada is now 7-1-1 and will face a German team that lost their first three games, but have since won six-in-a-row.
Canada needed three third period goals to beat Latvia, 4-2.
It was Jack Quinn who was named Canada’s player of the game, as he got things going when he banked a puck in off goalie Arturs Silovs’ head to make it 2-2.
Adam Fantilli, the Hobey Baker winner from the University of Michigan Wolverines this past season, absolutely undressed a Latvian defenseman and scored a real nice goal to make it 3-2, Canada.
Scott Laughton (Philadelphia Flyers) got the empty netter to make sure Canada would advance.
Peyton Krebs was instrumental in Canada’s first goal, sending in Sammy Blais (St. Louis Blues) to tie the game at 1-1.
Krebs played 14:12 and has a goal and two assists for three points in nine games. Quinn played 17:26, and now has two goals and four assists for six points.
Sam Montembault (Montreal Canadiens) had been really good coming into this game, which has kept Devon Levi on the bench for all but one game. He was pretty good in this game, and made some good saves, It wasn’t his best by any means, as he made 20 stops on 22 shots faced.
Last year, Canada won the silver medal at this tournament after losing to Finland in the Gold Medal game.
Both games on Sunday can be seen on the NHL Network.
