Czech’s Beat Americans in Final Round Robin Game

The United States of America became the second team to not win a game at the World Cup of Hockey, losing to the Czech Republic in a battle for sixth place.

The energy in the crowd was perhaps the lowest out of any game in the tournament, but that was expected in a game for sixth place in the tournament. Still, neither team wanted to lose all three games they played, so there was pride on the line.

The Czech's would get the first laugh. At 12:43 in the first period, Zbynek Michalek took a pass from Ondrej Palat on a delayed penalty call. Michalek used David Pastrnak as a distraction in front and wired it past Ben Bishop's glove, giving the Czech's the 1-0 lead.

But two minutes later, the Americans tied it all up at one apiece on the power play. Zach Parise received a pass from Patrick Kane before sending out out himself from behind the goal line. American captain Joe Pavelski was in position to receive it, sending a perfectly timed wrist shot past Peter Mrazek's blocker for the 1-1 goal.

It took just 6:03 in the second for the Czech's to take back the lead. This time, Milan Michalek would add his name to the score sheet after fighting off a defensive battle in front of the net, whacking away at the puck before Ryan Suter eventually deflected the puck into his own net to make it 2-1.

The game kept its exciting pace to the 14:13 mark of the second when USA tied it up at two. Justin Abdelkader, who many criticized for being on the team as opposed to Phil Kessel or Bobby Ryan, took a pass from Dustin Byfuglien at the boards before converting the easy tap-in to make it 2-2. It was a big goal for the team, who got the crowd back into the game when they needed energy the most.

The Czech's would score a pair of goals before the end of the first to grab a two-goal advantage. First, Ales Hemsky lost the puck behind the net, but Andrej Sustr was right there to help. Sustr then shot the puck from an impossible angle on the goal line, somehow finding the one hole available to make it 3-2.

Then, not even a full minute later, Milan Michalek got another one. This time, he rushed into the zone and fired it top shelf over Bishop, resulting in the second stoppable goal against in a 40 second span.

The Americans wanted to win the game badly, even if it was just for pride. At 2:22, Ryan McDonagh tapped in a pass from Blake Wheeler on a two-on-one rush at the doorstep to bring the Americans within a goal with a majority of the period to go. But it was too late for the Americans, who came into the tournament with high hopes but failed to take home a victory following a 4-3 loss to the Czech's to end the tournament.

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