The US had eased into the semi-finals by scoring 37 goals across their four matches, but faced a major test when the Czech Republic took the lead in their semi-final match.

Czech captain Jiri Kulich struck in the 15th minute, giving his side a slender 1-0 advantage at the end of the opening period at Fantec Arena.

The effort saw Kulich become the leading scorer at the tournament with 11 points.

The US team stormed back in the second period with efforts from Cruz Lucius, Cutter Gauthier, Frank Nazar III, Issac Howard and Jimmy Snuggerud helping them seize control.

Snuggerud scored his second goal of the match in the third period, allowing the US to seal a 6-1 victory.

The second semi-final saw late drama with Finland’s Jani Nyman equalising in the 55^th minute against Sweden, cancelling out Otto Stenberg’s effort in the second period.

Finland appeared to have forced the match into overtime, only for Jonathan Lekkerimäki to score with 32 seconds remaining to give Sweden a dramatic 2-1 victory.

Sweden will hope to win the event for the second time tomorrow, following their triumph in 2019.

The US will seek to extend their record number of titles to 11, with their most recent success having come at the 2017 event.

It will be the fourth time the nations have met in the final, with the US having beaten Sweden in three consecutive gold-medal matches from 2010 to 2012.

The final will follow the bronze-medal match between Finland and the Czech Republic.