EDMONTON, Alberta — Harvard forward Matthew Coronato scored twice, and the defending champion United States held off Sweden 3-2 on Saturday night to finish 4-0 in Group B play in the world junior hockey championship.
Brett Berard also scored for the Americans, and Kaidan Mbereko made 28 saves. The U.S. will face the Czech Republic — the fourth-place team in Group A — in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Sweden (2-1) rallied in the third, with Emil Andrae cutting it to 3-1 with 9:22 to go and Ake Stakkestad making it a one-goal game on a power play with 1:45 left and goalie Jesper Wallstedt off for an extra attacker.
Sweden will play Germany (2-1) on Monday for second place in the group.
In Group A, Ralfs Bergmanis had a hat trick, and Latvia beat the Czech Republic 5-2 to secure a quarterfinal spot.
Only in the field after Russia and Belarus were expelled, Latvia (1-2-1) finished third in the group — a spot ahead of the Czech Republic (1-2-1).
Earlier, Kasper Simontaival had two goals and an assist in Finland’s 9-3 victory over Slovakia. Joel Maatta also scored twice for Finland (2-1), which will face Canada (3-0) on Monday for the top spot in the group.
Slovakia finished 0-3-1.