The Americans and Norwegians met in Gothenburg, Sweden, in the second match of Group B at the Under-20 World Championship tournament. The favorite of the meeting was clearly given in advance, but the course of the duel did not clearly indicate that. In the end, the favored American hockey players rejoiced in a match full of eliminations, but the northerners were definitely not far from a big surprise.
news-item-description">USA hockey players confirmed their position as favorites when they defeated Norway 4:1 in the “Slovak” B-group in their opening match at the U20 WC.
Already the number of shooting attempts on both sides after the first part of the game clearly indicated that Norway will not be an easy opponent for the Americans. Well, at least not as simple as overseas hockey players initially thought. The first third did not go significantly differently than expected, the USA immediately burned several goals. The chances of Snuggerud, Brindley or Perreault can certainly be included among the most serious opportunities. But goalkeeper Markus Stensrud confirmed his genius.
It was the end of the opening twenty minutes that started an unprecedented passage of the game accompanied by Norwegian dominance. In the last minute of the first third of the duel, the northerners relentlessly bit the opponent, the favorite also had to be saved by a great goalkeeper Trey Augustine. But that was just a foreshadowing of what was to come.
The Norwegians started the second period with a numerical advantage, in its opening five minutes they spent almost 6 minutes on the ice surface in a more favorable condition. They missed a few seconds even in a power play by two players. During their stay in the offensive, they shot several times, they combined the puck on their sticks really skillfully, and probably few would argue that this is a rookie in the elite category of the tournament.
Pressure, bravery and sacrifice were not enough for the outsider to score a goal. The score of the meeting was opened in its half by prospect St. Louis Blues, American Jimmy Snuggerud. By the end of the second half the score was 3-0, Gavin Brindley also scored twice. One of his two hits came on the power play.
The Norwegians scored only in the third period, even in their own weakness. Their assistant captain succeeded in a separate escape Petter Vesterheim, who played an excellent match. However, the favorite still scored in the given American power play, scoring the final accurate hit of the duel Isaac Howard.
Considering the overall course of the confrontation between one of the biggest favorites of the tournament and a newcomer, it must be noted that the Norwegians played a good duel. Only the third period was clearly inadequate on their part, especially the sequence after the fourth conceded goal, when their chances were only very theoretical. The Americans really struggled with them and in the first half of the meeting they were not sure.
The goalkeepers of both teams can be identified as the best men of the match. He scored up to 40 successful interventions Markus Stensrud. The Norwegian keeper of the space between the posts had a success rate of almost 91 percent at the end, he took care of really extraordinary stops of the puck. However, his counterpart also excelled on the opposite side of the ice Trey Augustine. The goaltender, drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, dropped only one puck and recorded a roughly 96 percent success rate.
If it weren’t for his men in goal, the overall course of the duel and its final result could have been diametrically different. But more importantly, the match showed that the Americans are not unplayable, and on the other hand, that the Norwegians, as newcomers, will definitely not be the slapstick of the group. Every other opponent of both of these units, including Slovakia, can draw very important knowledge from this confrontation.
2023-12-27 07:35:00
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