In a game that proved every bit equal to its billing, USA eliminated host Russia thanks to a third-period shorthanded goal to advance to the semifinal.

Neither the Russian defense, nor the hostile crowd, nor the Slovak national anthem mistakenly played in their honor managed to stifle the Americans' drive or dampen their spirits as they advanced to their 16th consecutive U18 World Championship semifinal.

Americans might well consider Canada their greatest hockey rival, but for Russians, the good old US of A is slowly gaining that status, and probably already has gained it at the U20 and U18 levels.

Joel Farabee's third-period shortie was the game-winner, as Cole Caufield and Oliver Wahlstrom also scored on the Russian goalie Amir Miftalkhov, while Jacob
Wise and Jack Hughes managed to beat an open net.

Ruslan Iskhakov scored unassisted for Russia.

Both teams had something to say in regards to mutual history. Russia held an edge in the all-time series, winning 10 out of the 17 previous contests, the only country to have a winning record against the mighty Yanks. The US, however, has only lost once in the quarterfinals since 2002. They defeated Russia, 5-4, last year in the preliminary round, and their last playoff meeting, in Sochi in 2013, also went the Americans' way.

Nobody was going to trap in this one. Certainly not Russia, spurred ahead by the feverishly excited crowd (including a large contingent of local Air Force cadets, in full military uniform), and certainly not the Americans who simply have too much talent to play second fiddle to anyone on the planet. To put it mildly, it was a highly exciting first period, with chances on both ends.

At 3:43, after Americans were rather cavalier with their defensive-zone passing, Marchenko jumped out all alone on Knight and tried to go five-hole, but was duly stoned by the US goalie. Later, Spencer Stastney went sprawling on
the ice to deny a pass to the far post, likely saving Knight a whole lot of trouble.

The Americans, for their part, were quick as lightning on offense and, in their
signature fashion, tested Miftakhov with shots early and often. But it in, dare
we say, Russian-like fashion, that they opened the scoring at the 8:47 mark.

Caufiled streaked into the zone with a puck on a two-on-one rush, took a long look at Jonathan Gruden flying wingman on the left, letting the defenseman hit the ice and the goalie spread his pads, and then softly wristed the puck five-hole. The arena went dead quiet, which is exactly what the Americans wanted.

Early in the second, the Americans had a good chance to double their advantage,
but Caufiled got stoned three times by Miftakhov from a sharp angle, and a follow-up shot by Cameron York was blocked by a tag-team of Russian forwards who simultaneously threw themselves in front of the puck.

The Russians were rewarded for their determination by quickly pulling even at the 2:26 mark on what was almost a carbon copy of the American goal. Iskhakov took the puck away from Stastney at the Russian blue line, ran down the right side and, with a teammate on his flank, shot the puck to the near side instead,
beating Knight between the glove and the pad.

After that, the game seemed to have settled into a pattern where the Americans controlled possession and dominated shot attempts, while Russians tried to capitalize on quick rushes and neutral zone mistakes. The hosts also played an extremely tight defensive game, making the Americans work for every scoring chance and blocking everything from the high slot. The penalty issues, which they experienced in abundance in the preliminary round, weren't evident either.


The Russians' patience almost paid off with less than four minutes left in the second, when Marchenko once again found himself alone against Knight and chose to shoot high, but missed wide on the short side.

The third period began with a glorious chance for the top US scorer Jack Hughes
who got a nice no-look pass from Joel Farabee in the right circle and one-timed
it short side, but Miftakhov stretched out to snag it with his glove for a spectacular save.

Six minutes into the period, the Americans put on enormous pressure in the Russian zone, coming closest when Patrick Giles' behind-the-back from the low slot glanced off the goal post.

Midway through the period, Knight got to flaunt his reflexes, too, as he calmly
saved a monstrous slap shot from the high slot by Iskhakov.

The US go-ahead goal came short-handed after Jacob Wise took a penalty for slashing the Russian goalie. Stastney tired to ice the puck and hit Farabee at the blue line. The winger promptly picked it up, ran through the neutral zone, and beat Miftakhov with a blistering wrist shot to the far side at 12:52.

The game was not decided until 2:38 left, when Jack Hughes' shot was saved, but
the diving Wahlstrom stuffed it into the net to make it 3-1.

Wise secured the victory with an empty-netter after Iskhakov broke his stick on
an attempted shot at the blue line.

SLAVA MALAMUD

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