In a defensive special, Boston College goaltender and
Florida Panthers prospect Spencer Knight stopped all 34 shots he faced to
secure Team USA's first gold since 2017.
Knight recorded his third shutout of the event, the most for
an American goaltender in the tournament. Forward and Anaheim Ducks draft pick
Trevor Zegras led the tournament in scoring with 18 points and was named most
valuable player of the tournament.
The 18 points were the second most by an American player in
tournament history. Zegras also tied the record for most points by an American
in his world junior career with 27 over the past two tournaments.
The U.S. took the lead in the first period off a redirection
at the front of the net from Los Angeles Kings prospect Alex Turcotte. That goal
was the first 5-on-5 goal Canada had allowed in the World Junior Championship
and the first time it had trailed at any point in the tournament.
"That was by far the biggest goal I've ever scored in
my life," said Turcotte, who was the No. 5 overall draft choice of Los
Angeles in 2019 and was part of last year's U.S. squad that was eliminated in
the quarterfinals.
The U.S. overwhelmed Canada for stretches of the first
period and held a 13-9 shots-on-goal advantage in addition to the 1-0 lead.
Zegras extended the Americans' lead 32 seconds into the
second period when he collected the puck and slipped it past Canadian goalie
Devon Levi, who was leaning the wrong way.
That goal gave Zegras a tie with former NHL player Jordan
Schroeder for USA Hockey's all-time scoring lead at the World Junior
Championship with his 27th point collected over the past two tournaments. He
ranks fifth among players who have appeared in multiple World Junior
Championships with 2.25 points per game, a list that is led by Hockey Hall of
Famer Peter Forsberg.
Zegras also picked up second place on the Americans'
single-tournament scoring list, compiling 18 points to lead all players in the
2021 tournament. He moved past Jeremy Roenick and fell one shy of Doug Weight's
record of 19, set in 1991. He was the only U.S. player to be named to the
tournament all-star team, joining Canada's Levi, Dylan Cozens and Bowen Byram,
Finland's Ville Heinola and Germany's Tim Stuetzle.
Canada had outscored opponents 41-4 before Tuesday night's
final in its bid to repeat as world junior champion.
"This is the first team that really pushed back in the
first period. We were not used to it and it took a little bit of time to get
back at it. After we adjusted, we were really good, but we didn't score,"
Canada coach Andre Tourigny said.
The U.S. found itself defending for much of the second half
of the game. Canada outshot Team USA 25-8 over the final two periods, including
a 15-1 shots-on-goal advantage in the final frame.
"We had our looks, but Knight played great. We didn't
get the bounces," said Cozens, who led Canada and finished second among
all players with 16 points in the tournament.
Knight, who was selected 13th overall by the Panthers in the
2019 NHL draft, made several big saves in his third and final trip to the World
Junior Championship. After collecting shutouts in games against the Czech
Republic and Sweden in the preliminary round, he became the only U.S. goalie to
record three shutouts in a single tournament and the only American to collect
three shutouts in his world junior career. He was named U.S. player of the
game.
In addition to records set by U.S. players, Team USA video
coach Theresa Feaster became the first woman to serve as an assistant coach for
a gold medal-winning team at the tournament. Feaster has been on head coach
Nate Leaman's staff at Providence College for the past seven seasons, including
the past four as coordinator of men's hockey operations, breaking down video
and statistics for the coaching staff.
"I told the guys after the game, I was going to be
proud whether we won or lost this game," said Leaman, who won the NCAA
men's hockey championship with Providence in 2015. "This was a group that
cared about each other. They had good character. The team came together and they
cared more about a team than anything individually."
The win gave USA Hockey its fourth consecutive victory over
Canada in a World Junior Championship final, having earned wins in 2004, 2010,
2017 and 2021. USA is 4-1 in gold-medal games against Canada, which owns 18
golds in the tournament's history.