GDT: USA (4) vs. Russia (3) • Semifinals • Jan. 4

[Woodhouse]

Semifinals:

USA vs.

Russia
Jan. 4 • 15:00 ET • 21:00 CET
Bell Centre — Montreal, Que.
TV: Match, NHLN-US, RDS, TSN1, TSN3, TSN3, TSN5, TV12

Projected lineups will be added after they are published here.

USA

19 Clayton Keller - 18 Colin White - 13 Joey Anderson
12 Jordan Greenway - 9 Luke Kunin - 17 Jeremy Bracco
23 Kieffer Bellows - 28 Jack Roslovic - 29 Tage Thompson
14 Erik Foley - 10 Tanner Laczynski - 20 Troy Terry
11 Patrick Harper

4 Caleb Jones - 25 Charlie McAvoy
2 Ryan Lindgren - 6 Casey Fitzgerald
3 Jack Ahcan - 33 Joe Cecconi
8 Adam Fox

1 Tyler Parsons
31 Joseph Woll

Russia

10 Alexander Polunin - 24 Mikhail Vorobyov - 7 Kirill Kaprizov
27 Denis Guryanov - 9 Danila Kvartalnov - 19 Pavel Karnaukhov
8 Kirill Urakov - 14 Kirill Belyayev - 25 Yakov Trenin
22 Danil Yurtaikin - 21 Denis Alexeyev - n/a

28 Yegor Rykov - 3 Mikhail Sidorov
2 Vadim Kudako - 26 Mikhail Sergachyov
15 Yegor Voronkov - 6 Sergei Zborovski
23 Grigori Dronov

30 Ilya Samsonov
1 Anton Krasotkin


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[Fried Tree Sap]

Should be a good game and I could see this one going either way. But given how hard it is to beat the same team twice in a tournament, I have a feeling Russia will edge this one and come out on top.

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

USA has the edge in more areas than Russia does, especially on the blue line. Samsonov can steal the game but I think it's the year the USA tops the Russians in the semi-finals.

 

[Ainec]

3-2 usa

 

[Machinehead]

I feel like it's ALWAYS them and when it's not them, we usually win gold.

 

[Trocity]

3-2 usa

Agreed.

 

[Kase]

USA team is better on the paper, but if I remember correctly Russia has beaten USA 4 times in a row at U20 games, so I'm expecting and hoping for a close game.

USA needs to play better than what they did against Swiss if they want to win this game. Has there been any news about line changes? I think they should drop Bellows to lower lines, as he has been absolutely terrible.

Samsonov and Kaprizov line could steal the game for Russia.

i'll say 4-3 for USA, but as long as the game itself is entertaining I don't really mind who the winner is.

 

[1Gold Standard]

beating the same team twice in 1 tournament is a difficult thing to do, but I still got to go with the better more skilled team here. USA 4-Rossiya 2.

 

[ViD]

In the first game, aside from the first period surge, Russia was just as good if not better than USA, so I think this one can go either way, but we know Bragin just knows how to deal with the Americans in the elimination games.

Besides, USA looked mediocre against the Swiss

 

[Bear12Good]

beating the same team twice in 1 tournament is a difficult thing to do, but I still got to go with the better more skilled team here. USA 4-Rossiya 2.

Last year, your words been the same

 

[XokkeyGuy]

Some nerd statistics I came up with while comparing previous tournaments this evening before the upcoming game between Russia - USA:

Russia and USA have played each other in the playoffs for the past three World Junior Championships, two quarter finals and one semifinal.
Russia has won all of them, in two out of three games USA have had the lead by one goal.
During both of the times that the teams have faced each other in the quarter finals Russia has finished 3rd in their group, while USA finished at 2nd place during all of the three competitions (Russia finishing 1st the one time they played in the semifinals).
The upcoming match will be the first time they have played each other already at an earlier stage of the tournament, being either in different groups or not being able to due to change in the tournament format.

- USA has always had a better goal difference than Russia during all of the three previous tournament group stages as well as this years.
(USA has during these events always had more goals scored as well as having conceded less than Russia, year by year, except for in 2014 when they had both scored 21 goals)



With that said, USA has often been the 'favourites' to win, just like they are today but clearly Russia steps up its game a bit when it comes to the more important playoff games. Both teams are highly skilled, the mental part is what's going to decide it and with Bragin I would say Russia has the upper hand.

 

[NTDP]

In the first game, aside from the first period surge, Russia was just as good if not better than USA, so I think this one can go either way, but we know Bragin just knows how to deal with the Americans in the elimination games.

Besides, USA looked mediocre against the Swiss

They won't have a repeat performance like they did against the Swiss. They know they played like crap and got away with it. You'll see the U.S. team that beat Canada in this one. If Russia wins, which they can, it won't be because the U.S. played terrible, it will be because they capitalized on a few pp's and maybe got a fluke goal which they always seem to do when they need it most.

 

[MuckOG]

I expect another close one. USA wins 4-3.

 

[MarVell]

Russia 3-1

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Taking Russia in this one. 2-1

 

[Scotty B]

Gimme Yanks same score ( 3-2 ) as last time...

 

[drossco]

Out on a limb.

Going with USA 5-2!

 

[c9gunner]

I personally wound't use the past performance as any good indication for the future results. Not for the World Juniors anyway. So it doesn't really matter how many times Russia beat the USA in the prior tournaments. What matters is what team is better this particular year. I think this time the US has the slight edge over Russia, but it will be a very close game.

 

[Jaykay]

Looks like Parsons will start again.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

I think the US add an empty netter to take this one 4-2. It should be a great game but I think the Americans are just a tad stronger overall. Maybe it's just a case of the Russians saving their best for when it counts, we'll see.

 

[Nash]

USA is the favourite in this match, but its not a dominant favourite. I'd say it is more like 55/45 for USA to win, but Russia has always stepped up there games in these tournaments when facing elimination. I think Samsonov will be a difference here and Russia takes this game.

 

[Bear12Good]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2171067

 

[XokkeyGuy]

Well, in some way you can use the past statistics for this one since for the last 4 years the comments have been the same, experts have said the same things etc. but Russia finished up winning anyway. This year is pretty much exactly the same.
Russia will win.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

5-3 usa

 

[thrillhous]

Too close to call. Should be a good one!