U.S. routs France to stay perfect at men’s world hockey championship

United States Drew O'Connor, left, scores his side's fifth goal past France's goalie Quentin Papillon during the group A match between United States and France at the ice hockey world championship in Tampere, Finland, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

TAMPERE, Finland (AP) — The United States routed France 9-0 to keep its perfect record at the ice hockey world championship on Sunday.

Cutter Gauthier led with a hat trick, Drew O’Connor got two goals and Scott Perunovich, T. J. Tynan, Rocco Grimaldi and Conor Garland added one apiece at Nokia Arena for the Americans to dominate Group A with six wins from six games.

Goaltender Cal Petersen made 13 saves for the shutout.

Nico Sturm scored twice and Germany thrashed Hungary 7-2 to keep alive its hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals from Group A. In the Latvian capital of Riga, Switzerland beat the Czech Republic 4-2 to lead Group B with six victories from six games. 

Andres Ambuhl scored two goals for Switzerland, Tanner Richard and Romain Loeffel contributed one each while Roman Cervenka and Dominik Kubalik scored for the Czechs.

Slovakia edged Slovenia 1-0 in Group B to stay in contention for a place in the knockout stage. Slovenia lost six straight games and will be relegated from the top division.

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