United States Run Away with Win Over Australia in Semi-Final

The Thistles will meet the United States in the gold medal game. The US ran away with a 28-6 win over Australia in the other semifinal. 

Just 33 seconds into the game, Australia struck first when Luke Spivey flicked a perfect pass from right near the corner boards to a streaking Orlando Kernaghan, who buried a back-door quick-stick right on top of the crease. That would prove to be the high point of the game for the Aussies. 

[PHOTO: Luka Bleus makes a save for Australia against the United States in Semi-Final action.]

Luke McNamara scored the first of what would be his 8 goals in the game just 19 seconds later. A minute after that, Ben Pousak took a line drive pass from McNamara, hopped out from behind the net and tucked the ball past Australian goalie Luka Bleus. 

The Americans just kept rolling from there. They led 8-1 by the midpoint of the first quarter, 13-3 at the break after the first, and put up an 11-0 second half to pull away from Australia and punch their ticket to the gold medal game. 

[PHOTO: Players of the Game - Australia Orlando Kernaghan (left) and United States Brayden Kuczma (right).]

Four US players had at least 7 points each. Several US defenders got into the act, running in transition and taking some offensive shifts after the Americans had established a big lead. Brayden Kuczma and Nick Schaller each made the most of those opportunities by scoring 2 goals each. 

Aidan Malone went the distance between the pipes for the United State.

The Bronze Medal Game will be played at 5:00 PM ET, followed by the title tilt between Scotland and the United States at 8:00 PM ET. Both games can be watched live on the IIJL World Juniors YouTube channel.