Petr Hauser and Matyas Sapovaliv scored in a 3:11 span of the second period and the Czech Republic upset the United States 4-2 on Wednesday night in the world junior hockey quarterfinals.
The defending champion United States dropped out after going 4-0 and never trailing in round-robin play.
“These games are tough and we struggled to get into our game today,” U.S. coach Nate Leaman said.
“Our first 10 minutes were good, but we struggled to manage the puck. We played a good Czechia team, they played hard and blocked a lot of shots, and you have to tip your hat to them.”
Tomas Suchanek made 28 saves to help the Czech Republic set up a semifinal against Canada on Saturday night. Earlier, Canada beat Switzerland 6-3, Sweden held off Latvia 2-1, and Finland beat Germany 5-2.
READ MORE: Canada heading to semifinals at World Juniors after 6-3 win over Switzerland
Hauser gave the Czech Republic the lead at 7:34 of the second with a wrist shot to the top corner, and Sapovaliv followed at 10:45 off a rebound.
With the U.S. on a five-minute power play for Stanislav Svozil’s kneeing major, Carter Mazur pulled the Americans within a goal with 8:29 left. Jiri Kulich put it away with an empty-netter with 1:32 to go.
Logan Cooley opened the scoring for the Americans with 7:57 left in first. Jan Mysak tied it with 2:05 left in the period.
Kaidan Mbereko made 20 saves for the United States.
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