Czechs stun USA, take them out of medal contention

In case you missed it last night, Czechia absolutely stunned Team USA at the World Juniors, defeating them 4-2 and eliminating them from the tournament.

The Americans were 4-0 heading into the quarter-final round, while the Czechs were 1-3, yet it was the Czechs who came out on top when it mattered. Czechia will now face Canada in the semi-final round, with bitter rivals Sweden and Finland facing off in the other semi-final match.

"We played a big team effort today," enthused defenseman David Spacek. "And I guess everybody just put everything into it, all tears, sweat, and blood. Today, we played a lot together, and we saw ourselves that it was the way for the victory.

"I think we learned a lesson against Latvia," captain Jan Mysak said in reference to the team's 5-2 loss three days ago. "We learned a lesson that they just wanted it more than us. So we lost. Today, we tried to do the same. We just wanted it more, and that's why we won. We just blocked the shots. We ate pucks, and we had success.

As for the Americans, this is the first time they've lost to the Czechs since 2011 and it comes at the worst possible time. "It's horrible," said American forward Logan Cooley, one of the goal scorers. "Obviously for the '02 players, this was their last shot. It's terrible the way it ended. But happy with the way the guys battled and couldn't complain effort-wise. The Czechs like to clog it up in the middle. I think we just needed to chip it in a little more. It just didn't happen too much."