USA claims U16 bronze medal

In a dramatic battle for third place in the U16 category, the fans in Žilina saw an excellent ball hockey game. After two periods, the score was 1-1, with American Joey Moore III scoring the winning goal on a penalty shot. Ian Basilio had a goal and an assist in the USA's 3-1 victory over Czechia Red.

Niké Arena 1

1-3

(1:0, 0:1, 0:2)

Czechia Red U16 - USA U16

Penalties

7:5

PPG

0:0

SHG

0:0

Shots on goal

28:27

Goals and assists

7. Chýle (Hradil, Fiala) - 23. Basilio (Nasuti, Goss), 39. Moore (ts.), 44. Weldon

Referees

Miroslav Sála, Gabriel Hatala

Official game sheet

Czechia Red U16

Charvát - Kopelent, Fiala, Hruška, Votava, Křivánek, V. Adam (C), Grof, Gelhof, Čtvrtečka - Kupka (A), Jankůj, Hradil, Hasal, Schnaubelt, Zahálka (C), Chýle, Krása, Tichý, Čaloun, Schwach, Šimic

USA U16

Moffett - Ambrose, Lammi, Ritz, Simon, Horner, Bonari (A), Weitzel - Goss, Costello, Dewitt, Persson, Moore, Waldron, Basilio, Boyer, Defazio, Fink, Nasuti, Weldon

The first period was evenly played, but the Czechs scored the only goal in the seventh minute, when American goalie Collin Moffett was beaten by Jonáš Chýle. The Americans pushed hard for the equalizer, but Ondřej Charvát kept them off the board.

Finally, in the 23rd minute, Basilio tied the score 1-1. The knife-edge battle continued, but the Czechs' momentum was stunted by a string of penalties. For the USA, Jackson Nasuti was assessed a major penalty.

Still tied in the third period, Moore was awarded a penalty shot in the 39th minute and converted, giving the Americans their first lead of the game. The expected onslaught of from the Czechs did not come, however. Shortly after the return of Filip Grof from the penalty box, Mac Weldon netted an insurance goal for the USA. The Czechs pulled their goalie in the final minute, but were not able to cut into the deficit.

COACHES´ REACTIONS

Pavel Štefka (CZR): "I think that today's game fully exposed what has been troubling us throughout the tournament. We didn't capitalize on our power plays and failed to convert the chances we had. Conversely, we conceded goals while shorthanded, and that was decisive in the game. Of course, we are disappointed with the tournament because we wanted a medal, especially since our U16 team won last year in Liberec. The only thing that can console us is that we defeated a strong Canadian team, but overall, the disappointment prevails."

Ryan Shannon (USA): “We had times when we went up and down this week. It’s not the medal we wanted to play for but when you get a chance to win a medal, you have to come together as a team, and we did just that today. We can’t be more proud of the boys. Our goal was to come here to win the gold medals. That didn’t happen, but more importantly, we’re going home with a medal and we were here as a family. It’s really difficult to win at these tournaments, there are so many good teams with so much talent and so many great players. Our players stuck together through the ups and downs and stayed focused on the main goal.”