U.S. Wins 2017 World Junior Gold

For the first time in four years and second since 2010, the U.S. National Junior Hockey Team is golden.

The Americans rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal to defeat host Canada, 5-4, in a shootout in the gold-medal game of the 2017 IIHF Under-20 World Junior Championship.

Troy Terry (Denver) was again the hero in the extra session for the Americans. Following a scoreless 20-minute overtime period, Terry tallied the only goal of the shootout to lift Team USA to its first WJC gold medal since 2013 in Russia. He had three shootout goals the day before in 4-3 semifinal win over Russia. Tyler Parsons made 46 saves for the U.S. on Wednesday, while also stopping all five Canadian shootout attempts.

Trailing 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes, Team USA knotted things up on goals by Boston University teammates Charlie McAvoy and Kiefer Bellows (power-play goal). After Canada connected twice early in the third period to again pull ahead, 4-2, Bellows scored his second goal of the game to bring the U.S. back within one.

Colin White (Boston College) then tied the game with just under 13 minutes remaining in regulation. White finished with a team-high seven goals in seven games for the Americans (7-0-0), and along with McAvoy also played on last year's American WJC squad that won bronze in Finland. Canada outshot the U.S., 50-36, on the night, including 17-7 in overtime

The U.S. has now won four gold medals (2004, 2010, 2013, 2017) in WJC competition, with three of those wins in the championship game coming against Canada.

Russia defeated Sweden earlier on Wednesday, 2-1 in overtime, to claim this year's bronze medal. Next year's WJC competition will be held in Buffalo for the first time since 2011, when the U.S. won bronze.

U.S. to Play for Gold After Edging Russia

Troy Terry (Denver) scored three times in the shootout to lift the U.S. National Junior Team to a 4-3 victory over Russia in a 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship semifinal game at the Bell Centre in Montreal. It was the first time ever that the U.S. had defeated Russia in the medal round in WJC play.

Colin White (Boston College) scored twice in regulation for Team USA, giving him six goals in six games this tournament, with his second goal lifting the U.S. to a 3-2 lead late in the second period. Russia forced overtime with a third-period tally, after holding leads of 1-0 and 2-1 over the first 40 minutes. Luke Kunin (Wisconsin) scored a second period power-play goal for the U.S., which also got two assists on the day from Clayton Keller (Boston University).

Tyler Parsons made 33 saves for the Americans (6-0-0), which outshot Russia, 40-36, over regulation and a scoreless 10-minute overtime period that initiated the shootout. The U.S. then outscored Russia, 4-3, over the extra session, with former Boston College forward Jeremy Bracco getting the other American shootout goal to keep the U.S. effort alive at the time. Terry scored on all three of his shootout attempts, including two in a row, as international rules dictate that shooters can repeat after the first five shootout attempts have been conducted if there is no winner to that point.

Parsons was named the American MVP for the game, while Keller, White and Jordan Greenway (Boston University) were tabbed as Team USA's top players of the tournament. The Americans will now play the winner of Sweden-Canada on Thursday in Montreal for the gold medal (8 p.m. ET, NHL Network). The U.S., which will medal for the fifth time in eight WJC tournaments, last finished first in WJC competition in 2013 in Ufa, Russia.