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12 // AUGUST 2017 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM PHOTOS BY Rene Miko/IIHF.com INLINE THE GOLD RUSH GROWS t turns out that USA Hockey's inter- national supremacy isn't restricted to the ice. The red, white and blue added to its already impressive international season as the U.S. Inline National Team won its seventh gold medal at the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship with a 4-2 victory over Finland in Brataslava, Slovakia. The dominating performance added to USA Hockey's medal haul this season with its fifth IIHF World Championship title. The Americans won the world title in the men's U20 and U18, and in the women's senior and U18 categories, only missing out on gold at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Team USA built up a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes of play in the title game, and goal- tender Troy Redmann thwarted any attempt by the Finns to climb back into contention. "Getting a 4-0 lead was huge. It helped us play our game, and I just needed to do my part after that," said Redmann, a Brea, Calif., native who plays for the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. With only days to prepare before their first game, the squad came together under the direction of vet- eran head coach Joe Cook, who led the U.S. squad for the seventh time. " We had an excellent group of players who were focused on win- ning from day one," Cook said. "The three lines all came from teams they play on all year so they had no problem gelling early." Those three lines provided balanced scor- ing throughout the tournament as the U.S. rolled through the preliminary round with victories over Slovakia (8-1), Canada (8-2) and Croatia (8-2). After dispatching Germany (4-1) in the quarterfinals, the Americans faced their toughest challenge as they needed to rally from a late deficit to down the Czech Republic (5-4) to earn a spot in the finals. "They [the Czech Republic] obviously gave us all we could handle and how we came back gave us a ton of confidence for the gold-medal game," Cook said. Playing in his fourth World Championship, Matt White led the U.S. offensive attack with seven goals and nine assists, and was named the tournament's top forward. Jack Combs, who plays professional ice hockey in Germany, was the team's top goal scorer with nine markers. The U.S. has medaled in all but five of the 20 IIHF Inline World Championships staged, including seven gold medals, four silver and four bronze. "It's a thrill and honor to represent your country on the international stage," said Derrick Burnett, who played college hockey at the U.S. Air Force Academy. "Hockey in the U.S. continues to improve yearly. As a rep- resentative of the USAFA, it's an incredibly proud moment to be part of this." P I By Harry Thompson O F F T HE D R AW U.S. Inline Team Adds To Medal Haul With Dominating Performance At World Championship Matt White scores Team USA's fourth goal of the game on a breakaway to cement a 4-2 victory over Finland in the gold-medal game.