2018 World Junior Hockey Championship: Bronze Medal Game — USA vs. Czech Republic: Preview, start time, TV schedule, and lineups
They won’t have a chance at gold, but one of these teams can still walk away from the World Juniors with some hardware.
Team USA had a chance to defend their World Junior Hockey Championship title on home ice this year. They entered a talented team into the tournament, and had a good run along the way, but their ultimate game at the 2018 event will be played with a bronze medal on the line.
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While the US will be disappointed with that outcome, the Czech Republic must be ecstatic about a chance to claim a medal. The country hadn’t been to the semifinals since 2005, and has a chance to take a meaningful reward from the tournament for their efforts.
With the differing mindsets of the two teams, you would have to give the advantage to the Czechs in the Bronze Medal Game. And they have the talent to back up the desire. Unfortunately, this year’s iteration doesn’t have the defensive prowess to match, so they still need to put in the work to claim third place.
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Should Casey Mittelstadt and Kieffer bellows be able to wrap up their tournaments the way they’ve been playing to this point, the possibility for getting one last win is still there for the host nation.
How to watch
Puck drop: 4:00 PM EST / 1:00 PM PST
In Canada: TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5, TSN 4K (English) RDS (French)
In the United States: NHL Network
Live stream: TSNGO
Team USA projected lineup
USA Forwards
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #23 Kieffer Bellows | #4 Ryan Poehling | #17 Kailer Yamamoto |
| #7 Brady Tkachuk | #11 Casey Mittelstadt | #13 Joey Anderson |
| #49 Max Jones | #9 Josh Norris | #21 Patrick Harper |
| #27 Riley Tufte | #34 Trent Frederic |
USA Defencemen
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #12 Dylan Samberg | #8 Adam Fox |
| #5 Ryan Lindgren | #15 Scott Perunovich |
| #24 Mikey Anderson | #20 Andrew Peeke |
| #6 Quinn Hughes |
USA Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
|---|
| #30 Jake Oettinger |
| #1 Joseph Woll |
Team Czech Republic projected lineup
CZE Forwards
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #6 Marek Zachar | #21 Filip Chytil | #16 Martin Kaut |
| #29 Albert Michnáč | #8 Martin Nečas | #18 Filip Zadina |
| #15 Daniel Kurovský | #22 Kristian Reichel | #25 Radovan Pavlík |
| #27 Ostap Safin | #28 Petr Kodýtek | #17 Kryštof Hrabík |
| #20 Jakub Lauko |
CZE Defencemen
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #19 Vojtěch Budík | #3 Libor Hájek |
| #11 Filip Král | #23 Jakub Galvas |
| #14 Ondrej Vála | #7 Radim Salda |
CZE Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
|---|
| #30 Josef Kořenář |
| #1 Jakub Škarek |