Team USA tops Russia in shootout to advance to final of World Juniors
After Anaheim Ducks prospect Troy Terry scored his third shootout goal to put Team USA in Thursday’s gold medal game at the World Junior Championships, jubilant teammates started comparing Terry to T.J. Oshie.
“I wouldn’t put myself in the same category as him,” Terry told USA TODAY Sports.
But anyone who knows America’s history in international hockey might put Terry in Oshie’s category because Terry’s three shootout goals gave the Americans a 4-3 win against the Russians in the WJC semifinals and ended Russia's long-standing dominance over America in this tournament.
“If you would have told me before the game that I would be the guy going multiple times in a shootout I would not have believed you,” said Terry, a Denver sophomore.
The Americans will play either Canada or Sweden in the gold medal game Thursday (8 p.m. NHL Network).
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The Americans had never defeated the Russians in an elimination round at this important tournament before Terry’s heroics.
“We knew we were 0-7 against them in medal rounds,” Terry said. “We were trying to open a gate for future USA Hockey teams. This was big for our program.”
The comparison to Washington Capitals forward Oshie resulted from the fact Oshie scored on 4-of-6 shootout attempts to beat the Russians at the 2014 Olympics.
What makes Terry’s story more unique is that he was 3-for-3 against Russian goalie Ilya Samsonov (Washington Capitals).
Under international rules, a coach can repeatedly use the same shooter after the original five-player rotation. That's different than NHL shootout rules where coaches must use everyone on the roster.
Jeremy Bracco (Toronto Maple Leafs) scored on Team USA’s fifth and final regular-shootout attempt to force the sixth round.
Coach Bob Motzko chose to go back to Terry because he looked smooth beating Samsonov on his first attempt. Terry beat Samsonov all three times between his pads.
“I was definitely a little nervous,” Terry said. “There was pressure on all of the shots, but the first one wasn’t as pressure-filled.”
In Round 6, Terry and Russia's Denis Guryanov (Dallas Stars) both scored. In Round 7, Alexander Polunen hit the crossbar and Terry scored to win it.
U.S. goalie Tyler Parsons (Toronto Maple Leafs) had to thwart 4 of 7 shootout shots to preserve the win.
“Just the way he played the whole game was incredible,” Terry said. “He even took a shot to the head, and was able to shake that off and still be our backbone.”