Sweden steamrolls U.S. for top seed in Group A at World Juniors hockey tournament

The path to a third consecutive gold medal in the World Junior Champions presumably just became tougher for the United States.

Behind two goals each from Eddie Genborg and Lucas Petterson, Sweden defeated Team USA 6-3 on Wednesday, Dec. 31, at Grand Casino Arena, winning Group A with a 4-0 record and 12 points. Sweden will face Latvia, the fourth-place finisher in Group B, in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Jan. 2.

The United States, which went 3-1 and finished second in Group A, will play the third-place team from Group B in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Jan. 2. Which team that is would be determined by the outcome of the Canada-Finland game later Dec. 31. Had the U.S. won Group A, a matchup against the Group B champ couldn’t have happened until the tournament final. Now, the Americans could meet the Group B champ, either Canada or Finland, in the semifinals.

“This is a crazy tournament, and you have to park [the loss] quickly, get to the next game and get momentum,’’ U.S. coach Bob Motzko said. “We have to park this one, get it out of our system and get back to what we’ve been doing.’’

Chase Reid, Will Zellers and Teddy Stiga scored goals for Team USA, which trailed 1-0 after one period and 5-2 after two in front of 18,618.

Goalie Brady Knowling, a 17-year-old making his first start in the under-20 tournament, gave up five goals on 28 shots through two periods. Nick Kempf worked the third period, stopping 14 of 15 shots.

The U.S. was outshot 43-31.

Team USA played without injured defenseman Cole Hutson and injured forward Max Plante. Motzko said there’s a good chance Hutson could return for the quarterfinals but said “probably not’’ when asked about Plante’s availability.

Team USA opened Group play with wins over Germany, Switzerland and Slovakia before facing a talented Swedish team bent on avenging a 6-2 loss to the United States in the 2024 gold medal game in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Sweden took a 1-0 lead at 9:17 when Casper Juustovaara’s cross-ice pass intended for Milton caromed off U.S. defenseman Logan Hensler’s skate and past Knowling. Genborg made it 2-0 on a power play 1:35 into the second period, and Pettersson blasted a slapshot past Knowling on a rush into the U.S. zone at 6:01 for a 3-0 lead.

“We have to manage the puck better because our speed was very good, but it was on display the other way tonight because of our turnovers,’’ Motzko said.

Team USA went on the power play for the first time at 7:01 of the second. LJ Mooney fed Stiga at the right side of the net, but Stiga’s backhander hit the crossbar. The U.S. kept pressuring, and after goalie Love Harenstam made two consecutive saves, Reid hammered home a rebound to cut the lead to 3-1 at 8:55.

After Sweden increased the lead to 5-1, Zellers popped home a rebound of a Ziemer shot past Harenstam.

In the third, Stiga redirected Mooney’s pass for a power-play goal to cut the lead to 5-3 at 2:14.

Urged on by a raucous crowd, Team USA killed off all but one second of a lengthy 5-on-3 power play for Sweden before Ivar Stenberg scored to make it 6-3.

“Just having that crowd, it really gives you good energy,’’ Mooney said. “Having them on your side is awesome.’’

For Motzko, the loss was disappointing but not devastating because there’s more hockey to play.

Switzerland 3, Slovakia 2: Loris Wey and Mike Aeschlimann scored power-play goals 22 seconds apart in the first period, and Switzerland held on to edge Slovakia to clinch third place in Group A at Grand Casino Arena. Kevin Haas scored in the second period for the Swiss, who will face the third-place team from Group B in the Jan. 2 quarterfinals.

Adam Nemec scored at 7:41 of the third period and Luka Radivojevic made it 3-2 with 10 seconds to play for Slovakia, which finished fourth in Group A and will face the Group B winner in the quarterfinals.

Czechia 4, Latvia 2: Tomas Poletin and Adam Jiricek scored 1:15 apart in the first period as Czechia defeated Latvia in Group B at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Max Psenicka and Vaclav Nestrasil also scored for Czechia, which will finish second or third in Group B.