Leading Korea 2-0 after the first period, the Americans scored five goals in the middle stanza en route to a convincing 8-1 win at MacLauchlan Arena.
“It was good to come out and set the pace and put it to them early,” said American centre Luke McDermott. “It was important to get those goals, come out hard, fast, quick and just put them out of the game as quick as possible.”
The Americans controlled the play in the first period and outshot the Koreans 8-2, but the 2-0 lead wasn’t insurmountable.
McDermott said the message between periods was to continue to move the puck and play its games.
It worked.
Josh Pauls scored 49 seconds into the second and the Americans were off and running. They tallied four goals in five minutes to take a commanding 7-0 lead with six minutes to play in the second period. Team USA outshot Korea 28-6 during the game, including 16-2 in the second.
The dominating performance came after an emotional 2-1 overtime win against the host Canadians in Wednesday night’s final game of the round robin.
The quick turnaround wasn’t an issue, said McDermott, who had a goal and two assists.
“It wasn't hard for us to get up for this game,” he said. “We had to win this one or we weren’t playing for a gold medal and that’s where our motivation is.”
Ju-Seung Lee broke Steve Cash’s shutout bid with 2:12 remaining in the third period on a 5-on-3 power play.
“We obviously wanted to shut them out, but 5-on-3s are tough to stop no matter who you are,” McDermott said. “That didn't bring us down at all.”
The United States cashed in on three of its five power-play opportunities.
“We really need to capitalized on those,” McDermott said. “Making sure we moved the puck today and executed the power play correctly was huge for us going into Saturday’s game.”
Leading Korea 2-0 after the first period, the Americans scored five goals in the middle stanza en route to a convincing 8-1 win at MacLauchlan Arena.
“It was good to come out and set the pace and put it to them early,” said American centre Luke McDermott. “It was important to get those goals, come out hard, fast, quick and just put them out of the game as quick as possible.”
The Americans controlled the play in the first period and outshot the Koreans 8-2, but the 2-0 lead wasn’t insurmountable.
McDermott said the message between periods was to continue to move the puck and play its games.
It worked.
Josh Pauls scored 49 seconds into the second and the Americans were off and running. They tallied four goals in five minutes to take a commanding 7-0 lead with six minutes to play in the second period. Team USA outshot Korea 28-6 during the game, including 16-2 in the second.
The dominating performance came after an emotional 2-1 overtime win against the host Canadians in Wednesday night’s final game of the round robin.
The quick turnaround wasn’t an issue, said McDermott, who had a goal and two assists.
“It wasn't hard for us to get up for this game,” he said. “We had to win this one or we weren’t playing for a gold medal and that’s where our motivation is.”
Ju-Seung Lee broke Steve Cash’s shutout bid with 2:12 remaining in the third period on a 5-on-3 power play.
“We obviously wanted to shut them out, but 5-on-3s are tough to stop no matter who you are,” McDermott said. “That didn't bring us down at all.”
The United States cashed in on three of its five power-play opportunities.
“We really need to capitalized on those,” McDermott said. “Making sure we moved the puck today and executed the power play correctly was huge for us going into Saturday’s game.”
Highlight reel
A look at Thursday’s semifinal between USA and Korea at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge.
Outcome
USA – 8.
Korea – 1.
Goals
USA – Brody Roybal, Adam Page, Josh Pauls, Luke McDermott, Declan Farmer, Nikko Landeros, Rico Roman and Paul Schaus.
Korea – Ju-Seung Lee.
Assists
USA – Noah Grove 3, McDermott 2, Farmer 2, Kevin McKee, Nikko Landeros, Roman, Roybal, Chris Douglas, Schaus and Tyler Carron.
Korea – Seung-Hwan Jung and Jong-Ho Jang.
Goaltenders
USA – Steve Cash, five saves on six shots.
Korea – Jae-Woong Lee, nine saves of 15 shots; Oh-Song Kwon, 11 saves of 13 shots.
Penalty minutes
USA – 10.
Korea – 20.
Power plays
USA – 3-for-5.
Korea – 1-for-4.
