U.S. Defeats Canada 6-5 In Junior Championships; John Carlson Becomes American Hero

Video of John Carlson's goal that not only won the game against Canada, 6-5, but also gave the United States the gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Don't forget, you can watch the game again Wednesday night at 6 p.m. EST on the NHL Network. 

(via RealClearSports)

Did you miss the incredible hockey game last night between Team USA and Team Canada in the gold medal match of the World Juniors? Well, the NHL Network is rebroadcasting it tonight at 6 PM Eastern (3 PM Pacific).

Even if you don’t like hockey, you really don’t want to miss this contest, which featured back and forth action throughout, several lead spikes, comeback attempts, an unbelievable crowd, spectacular goals, and incredible saves. It truly had everything, including a victory for the Americans, the silencing of that raucous crowd and a nation with one single shot, and a bunch of 20 year olds belting “And the Home of the Brave!” at the tops of their lungs.

Who knows, you might even find you like this weird game they play on this hard, cold surface called “ice”.

If you have any of the cable or satellite providers listed on this page, you probably have NHL Network. Go. Thank us later.

The United States broke the Canadians streak of five consecutive gold medals at the World Junior Hockey Championships with a shot from John Carlson that gave the Americans a 6-5 win over the host country.

This gold medal game had its fair share of highlights, as the Americans and Canadians scored a total of 11 goals. Both starting goaltenders, Mike Lee and Jake Allen, were chased out of net. Carlson and Eberle scored clutch goals and each had two goals in this game.

While Eberle and Carlson are going to get most of the press in this game, Jack Campbell is a major reason that the United States won. After replacing Mike Lee, Campbell made save after save to keep the Americans in the game and ultimately is the reason that the Americans have pulled this game out in overtime.

Jordan Eberle scores his second goal of this gold medal game in 1:30 to tie the game up at five. This is the second two goal lead the Americans have given up to the Canadians in this tournament. The game will now go to a 20 minute sudden death overtime and if no one scores after that, a shootout.

Jordan Eberle has brought the Canadians back to a one goal deficit with a goal with three minutes left in the third period.

Shortly after D’Amigo’s goal, Derek Stepan drives to the net to give the United States a 5-3 lead with thirteen minutes left in the third period. The United States had a two goal lead the last time they faced the Canadians on New Years Eve before eventually losing the game in a shootout.

The Canadian team has now replaced Jake Allen with Martin Jones. Allen allowed five goals on 28 shots and basically led the Canadians to the gold medal game with two shutouts in five games in this tournament.

Jerry D’Amigo gives the United States the 4-3 lead with 15 minutes left in the third period. Derek Stepan earns the assist on the goal.

The Canadians tie the game up at three coming off a goal from Taylor Hall. Hall is the highly touted prospect heading into the 2010 Draft and will most likely be the number one pick.

USA starting goalie, Mike Lee, has been pulled now in favor for Jack Campbell. All three of Lee’s goals that he has given up have been very soft and Lee did not have a good showing at all.

John Carlson scored a power play goal 1:03 into the second period to give the United States a 3-2 lead. The power play comes off a penalty taken by Alex Pietrangelo, Blues prospect, as Pietrangelo took a two minute minor and a ten minute misconduct for checking from behind as the first period ended.

With six minutes left in the first period, USA’s Chris Krieder scored on a blast to even the game at one. Thirty six seconds later, Jordan Schroder scores for the United States to make the game 2-1. Canada answered right back with a goal by Greg Nemisz, his first of the tournament, to tie the game back up at two.

Both Mike Lee, the US goaltender, and Jake Allen, the Canadian goaltender, have had soft periods to start the game as the two goals Allen allowed were in the same spot.

Luke Adam, a Buffalo Sabres prospect, gives the Canadians an early 1-0 lead as the game is four minutes into the first period. The one noticable thing about this game is that it is very fast paced and a lot of back and forth action with the wider ice.

Toronto Star's Damien Cox has a brief look at the ten players to watch during Tuesday night's gold medal game, five from the Canadian team and five from the United States. This should be the cheat sheet for who to keep an eye on while watching the game.

Seeing as the World Junior Championship is being hosted in Saskatoon, Saskatechwan, Canadians across the country are trying to help their Canadian team win in the final tonight. Canadian host James Duthie from TSN had these tweets from today:

Some Canadian radio stations have been calling U.S team hotel, waking up players. The Edge in Toronto woke up Stepan, Lee, Damigo.

Team Canada gets full police escort to rink. Team USA get pulled over, frisked, and cavity searched. Okay no, but I bet they pondered it.

Canadians are passionate about their hockey and especially their national teams. Seeing the Canadians win gold on Canadian ice can only make the situation better. This means that if the Canadians reach the gold medal game in the Olympics, the opposing team is going to need to be sequestered.