Canada wins 7th straight Hlinka gold; U.S. gets bronze

Canada scored four first-period goals and defeated the Czech Republic 6-2 to win the gold medal at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup on Saturday in Breclav, Czech Republic.

It is the seventh straight championship at the tournament for Canada, which outscored its opponents 32-10 this year.

"We knew we had to have a really good start against [the Czechs] because they were playing really well," coach Jody Hull told The Canadian Press. "Our guys just bought into the process. It's an amazing group."

Dylan Strome's goal 3:34 into the game started a string of four goals in 13:17.

Lawson Crouse (9:06), Mitchell Marner (13:09) and Travis Konecny (16:51) also scored in the first period for Canada.

"After our first goal, we just kept rolling," Marner told the CP. "We're a hard team to stop when we play as one, and I think we did that very well in this tournament and in the gold-medal game."

Goals for the Czech Republic by Radek Koblizek and Lukas Jasek sandwiched one by Canada's Nicolas Roy in the second period.

Crouse scored 11:38 into the third period to complete the scoring. Marner had an assist on each of Crouse's goals. Jeremy Roy and Matthew Spencer each had two assists.

Zachary Sawchenko made 17 saves for Canada.

United States 5, Sweden 4: The United States defeated Sweden on an overtime goal by Dennis Yan to win the bronze medal.

U.S. goalie Matthew Jurusik made 42 saves.

After trailing 2-0, the United States took a 3-2 lead on first-period goals by Thomas Novak, Erik Foley and Troy Terry.

Sweden tied the game 4-4 with 1:30 remaining in the third period.

Yan scored 4:03 into overtime.

Canada defeated the United States 11-5 in the semifinals.

"After an emotional loss yesterday it was great for our guys to respond and beat a very good Swedish team to capture third place," coach Derek Plante told USA Hockey.