No Medal For U.S.

The United States hockey team, its offense showing few signs of life, lost its chance for a medal at the World Junior Championship.

“We lost to a good team, but we played hard,” U.S. coach Jack Parker said after a 3-0 loss to Sweden. “I was real happy with our effort, even though we didn’t have the quickness we like.

“We just didn’t make anything happen offensively and we had several chances, but we didn’t get the bounce we needed.”

The United States fell to 2-3-0 in tournament play. Sweden, led by 24 saves from goalie Per Ragnar Bergkvist, improved to 3-1-1 and earned a spot in Wednesday’s semifinal against the Czech Republic.

Russia defeated Finland 6-2 to advance to the other semifinal match against Canada, also on Wednesday.