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Let´s start with the group stage, where you shut out all your opponents.
Yes, we have a really strong defence, actually our best players are back there, including the goalie, which means that we were extra focused in that area of play. Anywhere a battle for a puck was, we always played tough and with pride. Any team with an approach like that is difficult to beat. Our goalies did a great job when we needed it, both Collin Olson and Jared Rutledge made some awesome saves.

Then you played twice in a row with Canada, probably the toughest two games of the championship for your team.
The important thing and the key to our two victories with Canada was the ability to use all of our players equally. That´s what helped us keeping the pace with Canada, who also had one more game under their belt, making the team more tired. The fact that we could play all of our players helped us a lot.

In the final game, you shocked everyone with a seven-goal victory over Sweden.
After the first period, we expected a fierce, back-and-forth contest, but in the second, we got better on the forecheck and tallied a couple of goals. Our players did an amazing job, played really tough, skated all game and even though the Swedes have a great team and we had problems beating them in the past, tonight it was a pretty one-sided.

Which words were said before the finals in the dressing room?
I told our guys to trust both themselves and each other and play hockey the American way. I knew it would work because this team has been together all year and the players know each other really well.

What does the gold medal mean for you personally?
During the last two years, we spent a lot of time with these boys, so it isn´t a typical coach-player relationship anymore, it is much more personal. Given that, it is really nice to see them do their best to win such a championship.

Your defence was rock-solid during the entire tournament.
The reason is that we have a really strong group of defencemen. We have six awesome rearguards and more will jump in for next year´s U18 championship. During their time with us, we managed to teach them how to play at this level, how to change the pace of the game and our coaches did a really great job assuring our defence plays physical and is always where it should be.

Goalie Olson is pretty deep in the rankings for the upcoming NHL draft. Do you think that this championship will help him improve his reputation among NHL scouts?
That´s up to those scouts. Anyway, Olson is a goalie that can win games by himself, he´s big and athletic. When we talk about draft, we tell our guys that it doesn´t really matter if they get picked in the first round, seventh round or if they don´t. The important thing is to keep getting better because even if you are not drafted, you still can go to an NHL team later, but only if you keep up developing your game.

Also, your penalty-killing units did a great job.
That´s right and it was seen especially tonight, against Sweden. The Swedes are really good on the power play and they have both good passers and good shooters. Plus, they know how to build up pressure so even though we couldn´t cover everything, we were pretty much clearing the puck out of the zone. And if that didn´t happen, Olson helped us with a great save. Before we jumped on the ice we told ourselves to stay out of the penalty box. We had some penalties after all, but we killed them all.

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