Gangwon 2024: USA reclaim Youth Olympics men's ice hockey gold with 4-0 shutout win over Czechia

The United States is back on top of the men's ice hockey Youth Olympic Games podium, and in emphatic style, at Gangwon 2024, registering a 4–0 shutout win over Youth Olympic Games first-timers Czechia.

Led by alternate captain Mikey Berchild (two goals, one assist) and goaltender Xavier Wendt (29 of 29 shots saved), the Americans reversed a group-stage upset loss to the Czechs to secure gold in Wednesday's (31 January) final.

The Americans registered their first shutout of the short tournament when it mattered most all even while being out-shot for the second straight game, 29-23. Wendt was impressive in goal for the Americans, finishing the competition with a save percentage of 90 percent, stopping 82 of the 91 shots he faced.

But thanks to Berchild's two tallies and a goal each from JP Hurlbert (one goal, two assists) and Zane Torre (one goal, one assist), the U.S. ensured a return to the top of the podium after missing out in 2020 when it won silver.

For the Czechs, playing in their first men's tournament at a Youth Olympics, silver is nothing to be scoffed at. They showed resilience in coming from three goals down against the Americans in group play to register a shootout win, but ill discipline in the final – two goals were scored on the powerplay – ultimately cost them.

U.S. coach, Joe Bonnett, described the victory as "overwhelming".

"It feels incredible," he told Olympics.com after the game. "I have a lot of joy that was kind of unexpected. I'm overwhelmed with joy and very emotional. 

"I thought their team toughness was good. They were even keel; we knew we were playing good hockey, but we weren't getting the results. And they had a very strong team concept that they stuck to.

"And they didn't play like individuals. They played as a team, and I thought they played stronger as a team as the tournament went on. To me, the most gratifying thing that that we had a good team concept and were unselfish, and it paid out in the end."

Captain Parker Trottier agreed: "We had a growth mindset throughout the whole tournament. I mean, we had three shootouts, we didn't prevail in one of them, but, you know, we came here to win a gold medal, and that's what we did." 

Berchild said of the comfortable victory after the previous three shootout games: "This one wasn't as close to the other ones, but… the close games are fun, but that was good.

"It's been hard to kind of battle with the ups and downs, but kind of just stay in the median and we got the job done today."

Earlier, Finland won bronze after a thrilling third-place game against Canada ended in another shootout.

The Canadians had seen off Finland in group play, but in the rematch the Finns held Canada to a 4–4 tie in regulation before winning it on penalty shots.