The U.S. Collegiate Selects are headed to the championship game of the 2025 Spengler Cup after a 5–3 win over HC Sparta Praha in Davos, using a fast start, a key response late in the second, and a quick two-goal surge early in the third to pull away. Penn State’s Aidan Fink notched a hat trick for the Americans.
The Selects jumped in front 1–0 at 7:38 of the first period when Eric Pohlkamp opened the scoring. They doubled the lead minutes later at 11:47, as Fink notched his first of the game to make it 2–0.
Sparta settled in and got one back before the intermission. Michal Vitouch scored at 11:47 of the first to cut the deficit to 2–1, keeping the game tight heading into the second.
The second period swung quickly. Sparta tied it just 13 seconds in, when Filip Chlapík made it 2–2. The game stayed even deep into the frame, but the Selects found a go-ahead goal late: Charlie Cerrato scored at 18:42 of the second to put the U.S. back in front 3–2 going to the third.
Cerrato SNIPE 🎯#USCS x #ThePeakOfHockey pic.twitter.com/gV8JcUeqes
— U.S. Collegiate Selects (@USCollegeSelect) December 30, 2025
The Selects created separation early in the final period, and Fink was at the center of it. He scored at 1:02 of the third to extend the lead to 4–2, and then struck again at 3:35 to make it 5–2, giving the U.S. a three-goal cushion with more than half the period remaining.
Sparta had one more push. Chlapík scored his second of the night at 12:53 of the third to cut it to 5–3, but the Selects held the two-goal margin the rest of the way to close out the semifinal and book their spot in the final.
The U.S. Collegiate Selects are now at the end of a storybook run at their first-ever Spengler Cup tournament. They will take on the winner of the second semifinal between HC Fribourg-Gotteron and HC Davos in the championship game Wednesday at 12:10 local time (6:10 a.m. ET). The game will be broadcast on YouTube and on TSN in Canada.