USA wins World Junior gold in shootout thriller over Canada

Tyler Parsons and Troy Terry were the primary reasons why Team USA made the IIHF U20 World Junior Championship game against Canada, playing the heroes in a shootout win against Russia on Wednesday.

On Thursday night, they were the reasons the Americans won world junior goal against their hated rivals, Team Canada.

Parsons made 44 saves in regulation and overtime, and then four more in the five-round shootout. Terry, who went 3-for-3 in the win over Russia, scored the lone goal in the shootout.

Team USA won their fourth gold medal in tournament history, 5-4, in a wild instant classic of a game at Bell Centre in Montreal.

Terry’s goal in the fourth round of the shootout beat goalie Carter Hart to his five-hole, just like the three goals that beat Russian goalie Ilya Samsonov just over 24 hours earlier.

Parsons, meanwhile, made an acrobatic save on Anthony Cirelli of Canada after Terry’s goal, and then stood his ground as the puck rolled off Nicolas Roy’s stick on Canada’s final attempt.

Tyler Parsons plays for the London Knights of the OHL and was a second-round pick of the Calgary Flames in the 2016 NHL Draft. Troy Terry plays for the University of Denver and was drafted in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks.

The game was a wild one that saw the teams combine for four goals in the third period.

Canada took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Thomas Chabot and Jeremy Lauzon, but the Americans matched them on goals from Charlie McAvoy and Kieffer Bellows (a power-play goal) in the second.

Canada regained the lead early in the third period on the power play, with Bellows in the penalty box.

The Americans overcommitted too high in their own zone on the penalty kill, and Nicolas Roy was left with time and options right in front of the U.S. goal. He snapped a shot past Parsons for the 3-2 lead.

That lead ballooned to 4-2 when Mathieu Joseph split the defense to chase a loose puck and deposit it into the net at 4:05 of the third.

But the Americans weren’t done. Just 39 seconds later, defenseman Charlie McAvoy fed Bellows for a one-timer that beat Hart and cut the lead to 4-3.

And then, 2:23 later, Colin White tied the game:

That was a Matt Barzal turnover that started the sequence, with Colin White of Team USA scoring on a deflection of an Adam Fox shot, and a 4-4 tie.

The extra session was just as wild, although it didn’t produce a goal. The best chance was a Canada power play. With 13:16 left in overtime, the Americans were whistled for too many men on the ice, an inexcusable mental error in a championship overtime. But Parsons made a few strong saves, and Team USA was able to kill it.

And then he made a few more in the shootout.

And the Americans won gold.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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