After a relaxing day off on Friday, earned with three preliminary round victories that assured the team a bye to the semifinals, the U.S. Women's National Team hit the ice for practice energized.
The team faces Czech Republic on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET with a ticket to the gold medal game at the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship on the line.
"I told our team we weren't going to put the equipment on for the first time in a long time," said U.S. coach Joel Johnson. "Frankly not thinking about hockey for a day is healthy."
While Team USA rested, the Czech Republic defeated Sweden on Friday. Johnson said he wasn't worried about rust developing over just one day off.
"I'm not worried one bit about that and we'll prepare them well," he added.
As part of the 2015 HARBORCENTER Winterfest at Canalside, U.S. Olympians Monique Lamoureux and Shelley Looney spent part of Saturday skating with the locals and even joining a game of curling.
The two Olympians signed autographs and handed out tickets for Team USA's matchup with Czech Republic on Sunday to some lucky fans.
The other semifinal on Sunday pits second seed Canada against Russia at 3 p.m. ET. The game is a rematch of a preliminary round game that Canada won 3-2.
Limited tickets remain for both semifinal games. Click here to buy tickets.
Tag(s): Home Under-18 National Team 2015