Russia and the United States put their complete team games on display in the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship’s opening games, each looking like a gold-medal contender ahead of the semifinals. But drawing each other on the penultimate day of the tournament, only was was going to get into Saturday’s final for a chance to claim that prize.
The game featured some of the tournament’s top scorers, including Ryan Poehling right at the top of the list with eight points, followed by American teammate Jason Robertson with seven. Russian defenceman Alexander Romanov and forward Grigori Denisenko topped their team’s race with seven.