United States head into semis against Czechia

Through the groups stage and playoffs, Team USA has had some bumps along to road but is looking like a contender for the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship trophy. The only team standing between the U.S. and the final is the Czechs, fresh of their quarter-final upset of Canada.

The favourites have not been as dominant as expected. Finland had a quite hard time against Switzerland on Saturday, while Canada and Sweden have surprisingly failed in the quarter-finals. But the USA? David 'JrPens' Roebuck and Joseph 'Jos' Olmstead celebrated the clearest win against Germany.

They defeated Luca 'Cpt_DirtyDangler' Knoll and Kevin 'Kevinator-373' Würterle 15-10 on Sunday. 'JrPens' is still undefeated after eight games at the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship.

'Jos' with two faces for the opener

'Jos' started with a 4-1 victory against 'Kevinator-373' after his absence in the group stage due to a power outage. But he lost the second game on Xbox 3-6 against the German.

Also for the Czechs, their PlayStation player was the strongest: Adam 'Dzouvi' Mensik beat Sayed Safir 'SafirSnipezGOLD' Sodouri twice in the 11-9 upset in the quarter-finals against Canada.

In the first game he won 3-2, afterwards he showed a signature performance in a 5-2 win. Josef 'pepcastachurcik' Stachura was also convincing, he kept the two-goal lead in the 1-1 tie against Justin 'Regs84' Reguly.

US advantage due to team selection

The US has an advantage due to team selection in the quarter-finals: 'JrPens' and 'Jos' played with Czechia in NHL™ 22, 'Dzouvi' and 'pepcastachurcik' chose Canada – the national team with the highest overall rating on virtual ice.

The second semi-final of the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship between the United States and Czechia will take place on Saturday from 18:30 UTC. All four games will be broadcasted live on the IIHF Twitch channel.

IIHF stream: https://www.twitch.tv/iihfhockey