U.S. Advances to Men’s Worlds Semifinal with 3-0 Win Over Czechia

U.S. Advances to Men’s Worlds Semifinal with 3-0 Win Over Czechia
DeSmith earns shutout; Goals from Coronato, Perbix and Gauthier

TAMPERE, Finland – Casey DeSmith (Rochester, N.H.) earned his second shutout of the tournament and Matt Coronato (Greenlawn, N.Y.) scored the game winner as the U.S. Men’s National Team downed Czechia, 3-0, here today in the quarterfinals of the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
With the win, the U.S. advances to the tournament semifinals and will play Germany on Saturday (May 27) in Tampere, Finland. Game time will be determined following the remaining quarterfinal games today. All U.S. games in the world championship can be seen live on NHL Network.
“This was a tough game and I’m really proud of our team and how we stuck to our game plan,” said David Quinn, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “There’s a real selflessness to our team and that’s been evident from the outset.”
Coronato found the back of the net at the 12:04 mark of the opening stanza to give Team USA a 1-0 lead after sustained pressure in the Czech zone. Lane Hutson (Chicago, Ill.) snapped a wrister from the point and Coronato picked up the rebound, spun in the left circle and bounced the puck off the skate of a Czech defender and in. Connor Mackey (Tower Lakes, Ill.) earned an assist as well.
Nick Perbix (Elk River, Minn.) added a second 8:53 into the middle frame. Rocco Grimaldi (Rossmoor, Calif.) grabbed the puck immediately off the draw and found Perbix along the right wing, who fired it above the shoulder of Czech goaltender Karel Vejmelka and into the net.
Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz.) wrapped up the scoring, striking from the right circle just shy of the halfway point of the third after T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) won the faceoff.
DeSmith stopped all 15 shots he faced.
NOTES: Matt Coronato was named U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. was 0-1 on the power play, while Czechia was 0-2 … The U.S. outshot Czechia by a 34-15 count … Cutter Gauthier led all skaters in shots on goal with seven, while Matt Coronato had six.