Americans finish tournament with win over Czechs; in 1st place for now.

Before a boisterous crowd on home ice, the Czechs built up a 2-0 lead before the Americans roared back with four straight goals to win 4-2 and finish the tournament with eight points. Defenceman Bode Wilde scored two goals for the USA and Tyler Weiss had two assists.

Buoyed by three power plays and an energetic home crowd, the Czechs were strong in the first period and held the edge in play. They were also helped by goaltender Lukas Dostal, who stopped Erik Middendorf on a penalty shot in the eighth minute after Middendorf was slashed on a shorthanded breakaway. With less than four minutes to play in the opening period, Otakar Sik led a rush down the left wing and fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle that beat Ryan Ullen between the legs to open the scoring.

The Czechs went up 2-0 early in the second period when Matej Pekar stripped an American defenceman of the puck down low, then spun around and fired a sharp-angled shot that beat Ullen. However, after killing a couple more penalties the Americans dominated the rest of the second period, out-shooting the Czechs 18-9 and scoring a couple of power-play goals in the second half of the period.

First it was Bode Wilde, sneaking down from the point to the faceoff circle, where he took a pass from Jake Wise and one-timed it into the near side before Dostal could slide across. Then in the last two minutes they tied it when Spencer Stastney´s shot from the top of the circle hit Jack DeBoer in front and went in.

In the first half of the third period, the Americans added two more goals. First it was captain Jake Pivonka getting to a rebound and firing it home for the eventual game-winning goal. Five minutes later, Wilde scored this second of the game, shooting right-handed from his familiar left-wing side. With the pass, Tyler Weiss picked up his second assist.

There was still 11:24 to play and the Americans still had to kill off a couple of penalties the rest of the way, but urged on by the crowd of 3,558, the Czechs just couldn´t draw closer.

With the win, the Americans are the first team to finish their tournament. Their eight points currently lead the standings, but they could be equaled by Sweden tomorrow if the Swedes win in regulation. In that case, the Swedes – who beat the Americans head-to-head on the opening day of the tournament – would finish first. As for the Czechs, they stay on four points, where they are tied for third with Finland. With one day left, they could finish as high as second, or as low as fifth.