Thompson scores golden goal for U.S.

Tage Thompson scored at 2:02 of overtime to give the U.S. a 1-0 win over Switzerland to win the gold medal. Skating in over the blue line with a bit of room, he ripped a shot past the blocker of tournament MVP Leonardo Genoni and flung himself into the corner boards in celebration before being mobbed by teammates.

This is the first gold medal for the Americans since 1933. For the Swiss, more heartbreak. They have been to the gold-medal game four times now since 2013, and lost all four–two to Sweden (2013, 2018), last year to Czechia, and now tonight to the U.S. 

The Americans outshot Switzerland 40-25 but Genoni was sensational. He had a shutout streak of 243:27 over the last five games he played, including three shutouts, bettering the modern-day record of 238:05 set by Pekka Rinne in 2015. The game also marks the end of Andres Ambuhl’s career. He leaves the game with an incredible record of 151 World Championship games played over the course of a record 20 top-level WM tournaments.

Teams started the game with nerves and clearly feeling the weight of pressure. This was no ordinary game for either team. The Americans didn’t get their first shot until after more than three minutes and the Swiss their first until six minutes. The game opened a bit for the Swiss when they had the game’s first power play, and although they tested Swayman, he made a couple of nice saves to keep the game goalless.

The Swiss slowly built as little momentum and pressure, but Swayman was more than up to the task, and near the end of the period it was the Americans who gained some momentum. Genoni made a great reaction save off a close-in tip from Logan Cooley, and then the U.S. got a late power play that was effective. But this time it was Genoni who was rock solid, and a tentative first period ended without a goal.

The second started out perhaps with even greater caution than the first, and the pace wasn’t helped by countless whistles which slowed the game down to a crawl and only added to the nervous play. But out of this came one huge moment. Michael Fora’s point shot inside the American blue line was blocked by Frank Nazar, who raced down the ice on a clear break. Fora chased him but ended up hooking him, resulting in a penalty shot.

U.S. coach Ryan Warsofsky chose Conor Garland to take the shot, but his deke was easily read by Genoni, keeping it a 0-0 game. But the U.S. grew in confidence. They got a lot of pucks on the Swiss goalie, not hard…