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Team USA captures gold at World Juniors

MiHockey Staff

By Michael Caples –

For the third time, the members of Team USA will return home from the World Juniors with gold medals around their necks.

The Americans beat Team Sweden 3-1 Saturday in the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal game to capture the nation’s third title in the prestigious tournament.

Click on the photo to see all of MiHockey's tweets from their big win over Sweden.

Team USA featured four players from Michigan – Jacob Trouba (Rochester), Patrick Sieloff (Ann Arbor), Riley Barber (Livonia) and Blake Pietila (Brighton) – which was tied with Ohio for the most of any state.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our players and staff,” said Phil Housley, head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team, in a press release. “And I’m also really happy for hockey fans in our country. This was a total team effort throughout the tournament. It was a very difficult challenge tonight against an excellent Swedish team. We had a terrific experience here and I’d like to thank the Russian Hockey Federation for being an excellent host.”

Trouba, currently a freshman at the University of Michigan, was named the best defenseman of the tournament after recording four goals and five assists in seven games. The Rochester native is just the third U.S. player to be given the directorate award as the tournament’s best defenseman, joining Erik Johnson (2007) and Joe Corvo (1997).

Rocco Grimaldi, a California native who played for Little Caesars during midgets, had Team USA’s first two goals – the latter serving as the game-winner. Sieloff and Vince Trocheck – another Little Caesars alum and captain of the Saginaw Spirit – assisted on Grimaldi’s first-period goal, while Trouba assisted on his second-period game-winning tally.

Trocheck added an empty-netter to secure the win for the U.S. with 16 seconds remaining.

John Gibson, a Pittsburgh native, was named Tournament MVP and best goaltender of the tournament. He stopped 26 shots in the championship game.

USA Hockey also won gold at the World Juniors in 2004 and 2010. This year’s tournament marked the third time in the last four years that Team USA returned home with a medal.

Other notes:

  • Former NTDP and Plymouth Whalers star J.T. Miller had seven assists in the tournament, which ranked second amongst all players.
  • Trouba, Gibson, captain Jake McCabe and Johnny Gaudreau were named to the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship Media All-Star Team.
  • Team USA outscored their opposition in the tournament by a combined total of 34-9.

See USA Hockey’s official photos from the championship game right here.