GOTHBERG GETS SHUTOUT, U.S. WINS BRONZE BY BLANKING SWEDEN

LANGLEY, B.C. – Zane Gothberg made 23 saves for the shutout and Austin Cangelosi added a goal and an assist as the United States earned the bronze medal at the 2011 World Junior A Challenge with a 4-0 win over Sweden on Saturday night.

The victory means the Americans have won a medal in each of their five appearances at the tournament – they won bronze in their first appearance in 2007 before taking home the gold medal in each of the last three years.

Mario Lucia, Tony Cameranesi and Brett Patterson also scored for the Americans, who outshot Sweden 33-23. Lucia’s goal gives him a tournament-leading four, while Sean Kuraly picked an assist to join Canada East forward Devin Shore atop the tournament scoring chart with six points.

Mathias Israelsson made 29 saves for the Swedes, who earned their best-ever finish at the tournament. The Scandinavian side was sixth in its tournament debut in 2009 before finishing fifth one year ago in Penticton, B.C.

The win for the U.S. also avenged its 1-0 loss to Sweden in the preliminary round, although in that game the Americans were victims of a spectacular 44-save performance by Swedish goaltender Oscar Dansk, who watched the bronze medal game from the bench despite posting a 0.98 goals against average and .971 save percentage in his two starts.

RUSSIANS SURVIVE LATE CZECH PUSH TO EARN WIN, FIFTH PLACE

LANGLEY, B.C. – Alexander Barabanov’s goal midway through the second period stood up as the game-winner as Russia took home fifth place from the 2011 World Junior A Challenge following a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, the Russians finished one spot higher than last year in Penticton, B.C., when they lost to Sweden in the fifth-place game.

Bogdan Yakimov and Daniil Yuryshev also scored goals for Russia, which led 3-0 and outshot the Czechs 27-17 through the first 40 minutes before the Czechs made it interesting in the third period.

Matej Zadrazil scored goals 2:16 apart just past the halfway point of the final frame, but the Czechs could not get the equalizer past Russian netminder Ivan Nalimov despite holding a 17-5 advantage in shots on goal in the third.

Nalimov finished with 32 saves, while Czech counterpart Marek Langhamer made 29 stops.

The Czech Republic, which beat Russia 4-3 in a preliminary round game on Tuesday, goes home from its first World Junior A Challenge with a sixth-place finish.