Last test before U18 WC: Team USA won all the games, Finns the best from Europe

18 Feb 2011 | Lukas Soucek and David Schlegel

From February 9th to February 13th, there was a Tournament of five nations of U18 teams taking place in Hradec Kralove and Novy Bydzov, Czech Republic. It was a last test before the upcoming World IIHF Championship U 18 taking place in Germany. USA showed to have the strongest team, the United States didn´t give up a single point during the whole tournament and proved to be the top favorite of the tournament.

Finland and the Czech Republic played the opener and team Suomi won 4-2. A much more interesting game could be seen later that day. In a "night session" the USA team led over the Swedes 2-0 after the 1st period, but Sweden tied the game just after the start of the 2nd and they played with a 2-man advantage. Instead of that, one of the greatest talents of US hockey Rocco Grimaldi decided the game completing a hat-trick.

The next day the Americans played the 1st game of the day against Russia. Although it was the second match for United States in a short period of time, they defeated the Russian team with a large margin - 10:4. Ron Rolston, the USA team head coach, reviewed after the match: "I mean, any time you play the Russia team, they’re really dangerous, even when the score was out ahead. And they had some really good opportunities. They’re a tricky team to play with."

The night game was much more close, it was the Scandinavian derby between Sweden and Finland. The Swedes were ahead for the most of the time, but it was Finland who eventually won 3-2. In the middle of the game, the fans could watch a battle among all the ten players who were on the ice at that moment. "Some guy from Sweden team hit our goalie. It wasn’t the first time in the match and we had to defend our goaltender," said Finnish captain Marcus Granlund.

Sweden and Russia started the programme of the 3rd day. The Swedes played for the 3rd day in a row, but still managed to beat their Russian opponents 6-3. The Russians had problems with discipline during the whole tournament and it was shown also on the ice rink.

Mika Zibanejad. Photo: Stanislav Soucek

The night game between the United States and home team from the Czech Republic was even broadcasted by Czech national public television. The Czechs played one of the best games in the tournament and were able to play the most equal game with the biggest favorite of the tournament.

"We have done the most we could. Unfortunately we made unnecessary individual mistakes in the 2nd period, which allowed them to the winner of this match. We also needed more luck than we had," said head coach of Czech Republic team Jirí Šolc.

On the 4th day, Russia beat Finland 4-3 and the Swedish team defeated the Czech Republic 5-2. It was clear that the Swedes would end up on the third place in the tournament.

The game between the team USA and Finland was a gold medal game. The team USA and Finland played in the finals. The Finns were twice in the lead, but then the USA team due to their very strong offensive skills, turned the game over and won 7-4.

"It was a really hard game. We tried to put pressure on the defensemen and made them make mistakes," said the American player Rocco Grimaldi after the game.

Rocco Grimaldi. Photo: Stanislav Soucek

In the last day of the tournament the Czechs played against the Russians. Again, there was a great audience cheering for the Czechs. This time the fans helped the home team to win 4-3. Also the Czech assistant coach Martin Hostak praised the atmosphere at the games: "I am very glad that so many people came to the games. It is very extraordinary, that U18 team plays in front of so many people."