WINNING SCENARIOS

Heading into the day there is a three-way tie for first place between Team USA, Russia and Finland. Currently, the U.S. holds the tie-breaker with the defeat of Russia on Friday night. Below are the scenarios that can play out on championship Saturday.

Finland wins if...

  • They defeat USA in regulation, Russia loses to Sweden in regulation or overtime
  • They defeat USA in overtime, Russia loses to Sweden in overtime

Russia wins if...

  • Beat Sweden in regulation, USA loses to Finland in regulation or either team wins in overtime
  • Beat Sweden in overtime and Finland defeats USA in overtime

USA wins if...

  • USA defeats Finland in regulation
  • USA defeats Finland in overtime and Russia wins or loses to Sweden in overtime

SWEDEN VS. CZECH REPUBLIC REWIND

Sweden opened scoring at 7:57 of the first period when Jonatan Berggren backhanded the puck past the Czech goaltender, Lukas Dostal.

Michal Kvasnica sent the puck in from the left circle to tie the game, 1-1 for the Czech Republic at 8:21 of the first period.

Nils Lundkvist put home a rebound and gave Sweden a 2-1 lead at 6:15 of the second period.

Linus Nässén extended the Sweden lead to 3-1 at the 11:28 mark of the third period off a cross-ice pass from Marcus Westfält.

Samuel Fagemo scored the final Sweden goal in the last two minutes of play to bring the score to 4-1.

Sweden goaltender Jesper Eliasson  made 15 saves to pick up his first win of the tournament while Czech goaltender Lukas Dostal tallied 39 saves.

Sweden will face Russia Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET at USA Hockey Arena.

USA VS. RUSSIA REWIND

Team Russia struck first on a two-on-one breakaway at 7:14 in the first. Ivan Morozov scored, and Kirill Marchenko and Andrei Svechnikov assisted on the goal.

Russia scored again at 9:46 in the first when Grigory Denisenko was able to slip it past the outstretched pad of the goaltender to make it 2-0. Alexander Khovanov and Svechnikov assisted on the goal.

Thirteen seconds into the second period, Svechnikov shot the puck on the backhand top-shelf on a breakaway to give Russia a 3-0 lead.

K’Andre Miller scored shorthanded from the point for Team USA at the 19:00 mark of the second period to make it 3-1. Miller fired a quick wrist shot into the net after a face-off win from Trevor Janicke.

Fifty-four seconds into the third period, Jack Hughes scored off a pass from Miller to put Team USA within one of Russia. Wahlstrom also assisted on the goal.

Danila Galenuk scored off a deflection in front at 10:24 in the third to give Russia a 4-2 lead. Daniil Zhuravlev and Svechnikov tallied assists on the goal.

Joel Farabee scored at 11:04 of the third to make it 4-3. Hughes stickhandled around the defender in front and passed to Farabee who shot the puck past the Amir Miftakhof’s stick. Wahlstrom also assisted on the goal.

Wahlstrom scored a goal at 13:13 of the third to tie the game, 4-4. Hughes picked up his third point of the night with the assist on the goal.

At 18:34 of the third, Tyler Weiss scored for Team USA to give the U.S. its first lead, 5-4. Jake Wise  assisted on the goal.

Drew DeRidder made 15 saves, including a Russian penalty shot during the third period. Miftakhof recorded 38 for the night.

TOURNAMENT REWIND

Finland defeated the Czech Republic, 3-2 in the opening game of the 2018 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament at USA Hockey Arena.

Jesse Moilanen scored the eventual game winner for Finland at the 14:01 of the second period. After a series of passes from Niklas Nordgren, Moilanen sent the puck in over the glove of the Czech Republic’s Lukáš Dostál.

The Czech Republic pulled within one at 5:45 of the third period but eventually fell short.  Adam Gajarsky netted the Czech Republic's second goal on the power play, on a shot from the point.

Dostál finished the game with 23 saves for the Czech Republic while Finland’s Justus Annunen finished the game with 22 saves.

The U.S. National Under-18 Team defeated Sweden, 5-1 in its opening game of the Under-18 Five Nations Tournament at USA Hockey Arena behind three point nights from Bode Wilde (Birmingham, Mich.), Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass.) and Jack Hughes (Orlando, Fla.).

Drew DeRidder (Fenton, Mich.) tallied 22 saves in the win while Sweden’s Jesper Eliasson recorded 28 saves.

Russia defeated Finland Wednesday afternoon, 4-0. Russian goaltender Amir Miftakhof made 28 saves to earn the tournament’s first shutout performance.

The Czech Republic defeated USA, 6-2 Wednesday night. Matej Blumel netted a natural hat trick and scored four goals on the night with one goal in the first off the powerplay, two goals in the second period at 13:02 and 18:45 marks, and one in the third.

In Thursday’s matinee game, Russia defeated the Czech Republic, 9-2. Andrei Svechnikov and Grigory Denisenko had two goals a piece in the win.

Finland beat Sweden on Thursday night, 5-3. Jesperi Kotkaniemi led the way for Finland with a four-point showing with two goals and two assists.

TOURNAMENT DETAILS

Each team will compete in four games, with points awarded for wins (3), overtime wins (2) and overtime losses (1). The first-place team will be determined based on final point standings.

TOP NHL-ELIGIBLE TALENT

Of the 112 players in the tournament, 72 are rated by NHL's Central Scouting Bureau for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

Thirty-one players in the tournament are rated in the Top 40 of the North American or International skaters. 

Team USA has the most players on the Central Scouting list with 18. 

U18 FIVE NATIONS HISTORY

The Under-18 Five Nations and Four Nations tournaments are held twice a season. The U.S. has placed first in at least one of the two yearly events dating back to the 2007-08 season. In total, the U.S. has won the event 19 times since the U.S. began participating in 1997-1998. 

The U.S. has won both of the yearly tournaments five times (2003-04, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2016-17). 

NOVEMBER'S FIVE NATIONS

In the November U18 Five Nations tournament in Finland, the U18s went 1-0-2-1 (W-OTW-OTL, L) in the tournament to tie the Czech Republic for third place. Joel Farabee (Cicero, N.Y.) and Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass.) led Team USA in the tournament with three points (1-2-3) in their three games.