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The United States got a hat trick from Boston College's John Gaudreau, and a total of five goals with a man advantage to beat the Czech Republic 7-0 in the quarterfinal round of the World Junior tournament and advance to the semifinal. Top defenseman Jacob Trouba and Seth Jones each notched four assists, and goalie John Gibson continued his stellar play with a 31-save shutout.
It remains to be seen if all of Team USA's problems have been solved, but certainly in their last two games against Slovakia and the Czech Republic they've looked more like the type of team people were hoping to see. Gaudreau has scored five times in the past two games, moving him into the team lead for goals, and the US power play has scored a remarkable nine times.
The road only gets tougher for the US, as they will now face rival Canada tomorrow morning at 4am EST, and will try to avenge a 2-1 loss earlier in the tournament to advance to the gold medal game.