The 2017 Junior World Cup of Hockey proved to be one full of redemption for the USA
The 2017 Junior World Cup of Hockey is an annual tournament for rising hockey stars aged twenty and younger hosted in Montreal at the Bell Center, the home to the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens. Beginning on December 26, ten countries sent teams to compete in a ten-day competition for national recognition. The preliminary round was made up of Group A and Group B. Group A consisted of Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Switzerland while Group B consisted of Russia, the United States, Canada, Slovakia, and Latvia. The preliminary round concluded after twenty games, with the most notable results being a 9-1 victory by Russia over Latvia and a 10-2 victory for Canada over Latvia. The team from Finland, the defending champions, were shockingly disqualified from the tournament after not being successful enough to continue moving on, and missed out on the quarterfinals.
The January 2 quarterfinals put Denmark and Russia against each other, with Russia winning via a 4-0 victory. The USA beat Switzerland 3-2, and Sweden beat Slovakia 8-3. The final game of the quarterfinals saw a matchup between Canada and the Czech Republic, with a 5-3 victory for Canada. The semifinals started January 4 with a matchup between the defending silver and bronze medalists Russia and the USA. Russia and the USA were evenly matched throughout regulation and a twenty-minute overtime period, and the game was finalized by Troy Terry becoming an American hero by scoring on all three shootout attempts. The second part to the semifinals was between Sweden and Canada, and Canada won 5-3 thanks to stellar goaltending by Connor Hart, a prospect for the Philadelphia Flyers.
The championship game was back and forth between the Canadians and the Americans, with the first period being dominated by Canada. The US came back in the beginning of the second period with goals by Charlie McAvoy and Kieffer Bellow to tie the score at two. After a botched shift change by the Canadians, the USA got a power play and Bellows was stopped on a golden breakaway chance by goaltender Hart. Both teams had plenty of chances throughout the middle period, and hitting picked up in the latter half of the game. Canada scored twice to get the two-point lead back, but the USA refused to go down easily. After the USA tied the score back up at four points apiece, Canadian forward Dubois had a chance to score when US goaltender Tyler Parsons was out of position, but Dubois missed the wide open net. Once the third period was finalized, the game proceeded into a twenty-minute overtime period where the level of determination on both sides stayed constant. Overtime was full of even opportunities and golden chances for both teams, but the entirety of the shots were safely corralled by goalies Hart and Parsons. After the twenty minutes expired, the teams went into a shootout. Out of ten shots, US's right wing Troy Terry was the only shooter to bury the puck in the back of the net. The US junior team managed to pull off a victory by repeatedly performing astounding comebacks to keep themselves in this thrilling game.