GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Michigan forward Rutger McGroarty scored a hat trick, Michigan State’s Trey Augustine made 38 saves and the United States defeated Slovakia 10-2 on Sunday in the world junior hockey championship to complete Pool B undefeated.
Michigan’s Gavin Brindley and Michigan State’s Isaac Howard each scored twice and Denver’s Zeev Buium and Boston College teammates Ryan Leonard and Cutter Gauthier added goals.
“I thought we played extremely well overall,” U.S. coach David Carle said. “We continue to build and now we move on to the next phase, the quarterfinals.”
McGroarty, who was selected 14th overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2022 NHL Draft and has six goals and 18 points for the Wolverines this season, will lead the Americans into a showdown against Latvia on Tuesday in the quarterfinals. . Latvia was fourth in Group A.
Marian Mosko and Filip Mesar scored for Slovakia. They will face Finland in the quarterfinals.
In the other final of group B, the Czech Republic beat Switzerland 4-2. In Group A, Finland beat Sweden 5-4 in a penalty shootout and Canada beat Germany 6-3. Sweden, which eliminated its first three group opponents, was first in the group, followed by Canada and Finland.
In the quarterfinals, Sweden will face Switzerland and Canada will face the Czech Republic.
Jani Nyman equalized for Finland at the end of regulation time and scored the decisive goal in the penalty shootout.
“I don’t know what happened, but we weren’t prepared at the beginning,” Swedish forward Noah Ostlund said. “We don’t make excuses. We have to be better next time.”
Boston University star Macklin Celebrini scored twice for Canada.
“One of those games where you just have to keep going,” said Celebrini, 17, who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft. “We had to move on… it will never be perfect.”
Jiri Kulich scored the decisive goals for the Czech Republic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
