USA faced Poland in the battle for the 5th place at The World Games. Team USA were more energetic throughout the match whereas Poland seemed a bit tired and made simple mistakes which cost them their victory.

Both teams were still without any wins as the battle for the 5th place started. The home crowd was even louder than before, if possible, eager to cheer team Poland to victory. However, the first goals were scored by the USA on power play. Polish defender lost sight of the ball and Mattias Hansen took advantage of it and hit the rebound into the net. The second goal was scored by Maurin Ruegg as Raphael Mori gave him a beautiful pass from their own defensive zone. At the end of the period Poland had several shots on goal and in the end Jakub Lyskawa scored from one of the rebounds.

USA fans were happy as their team was in the lead. But “let’s go USA let’s go” chants were silenced as USA got a five-minute penalty. Despite the good chance to decrease the score, Poland were inefficient. The passes didn’t find the blade and those passes that did, bounced uncontrollably. After the second period the score was still 2-1 for USA.

During the third period USA increased their lead to 3-1 as they scored a tic-tac-toe goal on power play. Polish home crowd kept on cheering, but unfortunately for them USA sealed the deal as Mikko Vähä-Vahe shot the goal to the empty net. After serious beating from Sweden and Switzerland, USA finally got their win and came 5th at The World Games.

Best players:
#11 Michal Sienko
#43 Robin Brown

Check out the interview with Robin Brown (USA) and Krystian Malasiewicz (POL)