Tip: A high scoring quarter-final to wait between USA and the Czech Republic?

USA and the Czech Republic collide on Thursday in one of the World Cup's four quarter-final matches. The venue is the Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, and kick-off is at 09:20.

USA-Czech Republic

USA with the strongest offense of the group stage

During the group stage, it was USA who scored the biggest amount of goals, as they managed to find the net thirty-four times in seven matches, and they scored five more goals than Switzerland, who scored the second most with twenty-nine. The American team won Group A after winning all games. During the group stage games, the American team also created a large amount of goal scoring chances and they showed good width as there were several players who were responsible for the team's goal scoring, where so far in the tournament it is T.J. Tynan who is the team’s top point scorer together with Rocco Grimaldi. In addition, they have Alex Tuch and Conor Garland, who before the tournament were designated as the team's two big star players, and also young roosters like Lane Hutson and Cutter Gauthier have shown their quality in this fast-paced and offensively oriented USA.

Czech Republic with a stagnant defensive

The Czech Republic showed good defensive play in the opening two games against Slovakia and Kazakhstan. But Against Latvia in the third game, they conceded a large amount of goal scoring chances, and after that, in my opinion, they have been stronger in the offensive, where Dominik Kubalik pulls a big load and is the best point scorer and goal scorer of the entire Championship with twelve points scored (8+4) in seven games.

High scoring contests for both teams so far in the Championship

So far during the World Championship, both of these two teams have played entertaining and high scoring games, and when it comes to how many high scoring games these two teams have been involved in, it looks like this:

USA

• Number of games played: 7
• Number of games with at least five goals in: 6
• Number of games with under five goals: 1

Czech Republic

• Number of games played: 7
• Number of games with at least five goals in: 5
• Number of games with under five goals: 2

A majority of both the USA's and the Czech Republic's games have, as the statistics above show, been of a goal-oriented nature.

Conclusion and prediction

When these two nations met in the bronze medal game of the World Championship last year it ended 8-4 in favor of the Czech Republic, and when the teams now meet a year later, at an earlier stage of the tournament, I think there is a good chance of seeing a big number of goals scored once again. USA showed a fast-paced ice hockey during the group stage where they were the team that scored the most goals of all the teams, while the Czech Republic also have their strengths in the offensive with the Championship's top scorer Dominik Kubalik in the team. Both teams have so far played games that have contained a large amount of goals, and I think it is likely that it will continue during Thursday.

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