UFA, Russia — Rocco Grimaldi scored twice Saturday as the United States defeated Sweden 3-1 to win the gold at the world junior hockey championship.
Vince Trocheck added an empty-net goal for the Americans, who defeated Canada 5-1 in the semifinal. (CLICK HERE FOR BRONZE MEDAL GAME STORY.)
Filip Sandberg put defending champion Sweden ahead on power play early in the second period, but Grimaldi scored twice in a three-minute span to swing the game in the Americans’ favour.
He powered from behind the net for his first, and then redirected Jacob Trouba’s slapshot from the blue-line midway through second period.
Sweden pulled its goalie for an extra player with 1:42 left but failed to capitalize. Instead, Trocheck rounded off the win with 16.7 seconds left.
John Gibson made 26 saves for the victory and was named the MVP of the tournament. Niklas Lundstrom had 31 saves for Sweden.
It was the third title for the Americans, who also won gold in 2004 and 2010.
Earlier, Valeri Nichushkin scored an overtime winner to give Russia a 6-5 victory over Canada in the bronze-medal match.
It was the first time since 1998 that Canada finished without a medal at the event.
