U.S. Comes from Behind To Beat Czechia, 4-2
FRISCO, Texas – Will Horcoff (Birmingham, Mich.) tallied the game winner with 2:17 to play as the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team beat Czechia, 4-2, here tonight at Comerica Center in its preliminary round opener of the 2025 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship.
HIGHLIGHTS
Coming soon!
Team USA continues preliminary round play here tomorrow (April 24) at Comerica Center against Switzerland. Faceoff is set for 7:00 p.m. local, 8:00 p.m. ET and the game can be seen live on NHL Network.
“Our team showed a lot of resiliency today," said Greg Moore, head coach of the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team. "We got better through adversity and found a way to win. Patrick Quinlan made good saves at opportune moments. The depth of our lineup really showed in the third period.”
Team USA had to kill off a Czechia power play just :15 into the contest. U.S. netminder Patrick Quinlan (Kennett Square, Pa.) stretched out to make a pair of saves at the 6:50 mark, which sparked Team USA’s offense as Mikey Berchild (Minnetonka, Minn.) broke through just over a minute later. Drew Schock (Green Bay, Wis) gathered the puck in the neutral zone and found LJ Mooney (West Mifflin, Pa.) near the blue line. Mooney took a stride with the puck before he sent a lead pass to Berchild who beat the defense, moved the puck to his backhand and flipped it over Czech goaltender Michal Orsulak at 8:03.
Czechia evened the game with a power play tally :26 into the middle frame. Quinlan came up big once again at 10:43 after a Czechia dump in bounced off his pads and fell onto the blade of a Czech forechecker who had a point-blank chance. Will Horcoff (Birmingham, Mich.) nearly put Team USA up with :40 left in the stanza, but his shot rang off the crossbar.
GAME PHOTOS
GAME STATS GAME PREVIEW
Czechia scored on a short-handed breakaway to take a 2-1 lead at the 3:33 mark. Blake Fiddler (Frisco, Texas) evened the contest with 4:13 left in regulation. Mooney retrieved the puck at the goal line, skated towards the blue line, and sent a back-hand pass cross-ice to Fiddler who found the back of the net.
Just 1:56 later, Horcoff fired one far side for what proved to be the game winner after Will Moore (Ithaca, N.Y.) corralled the puck in the neutral zone and banked a pass off the boards onto the tape of Horcoff speeding up the wing.
Jacob Kvasnicka (Plymouth, Minn.) scored into an empty net with :07 left to account for the 4-2 final.
Quinlan stopped 20 shots in the win.
NOTES: LJ Mooney (West Mifflin, Pa.), with two assists, was named Team USA’s Player of the Game … The U.S. was 0-4 on the power play, while Czechia was 1-4 … The U.S. outshot Czechia, 36-22 … Team USA was .694 from the faceoff circle in the contest … Tickets for the 2025 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship can be purchased online here… For complete tournament news, including full schedule, broadcast information, stats and standings, click here… Team USA news, including tournament interviews and highlights, can be found at TeamUSA.USAHockey.com.
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Source: usahockey.com