Sean Kuraly and Riley Barber traded two Miami University hockey games for gold medals.

The freshman forwards missed the Three Rivers Classic to play for the United States National Junior Team in Ufa, Russia, where the Americans pulled off a surprising run to the IIHF World Junior Championship.

Team USA defeated tourney favorite Canada 5-1 in the semifinals and then topped Sweden 3-1 on Jan. 5 to take the title.

“For a team from all over the country to come together that quickly was just unbelievable,” Kuraly said. “Everyone put their egos aside. Everyone contributed. It’s special to see how a lot of pretty talented kids can come together and do something like that.”

The WJC is a U-20 event, and MU was the only school represented by teammates. The Americans went 5-2 in Russia, losing to Russia and Canada in pool play.

Barber said he savored the semifinal triumph over the Canadians.

“It was unbelievable to see the look on their faces,” Barber said. “They had this big, bad team and thought they were going to roll over us. We came out and just didn’t really care who they were. We came out with the attitude that we were going to take them down.”

Barber and Kuraly often played on the same line in the tournament, and both were significant contributors. Barber tallied three goals and three assists, while Kuraly had a goal and two assists.

RedHawks coach Enrico Blasi texted the players regularly during the WJC and enjoyed watching them play on television.

“We’re obviously very excited for them and proud of them,” Blasi said. “It’s a big deal in hockey to win a World Junior gold medal. I know the news in our country doesn’t really recognize it too much, but other than winning an Olympic gold medal, this is probably the biggest thing that you can do in our sport as far as international play is concerned.”

The team practiced in New York and Helsinki, Finland, before heading to Russia. Ufa is a city of more than 1,000,000 people, and Kuraly said Ufa Arena was a high-quality venue. It’s the home of HC Salavat Yulaev of the Kontinental Hockey League.

“It’s one of the most wealthy KHL teams,” Kuraly said. “We had crowds of 10,000. When we played Russia, it was absolutely nuts, packed. All those games were on NHL Network and live on TSN (in Canada), so all my family in Toronto and my grandparents and aunts and uncles were all up at 4 a.m. watching the games.”

Team USA went 2-2 in the preliminary round (with wins over Slovakia and Germany), then defeated the Czech Republic 7-0 in the medal round before facing Canada for the second time.

“They were calling our group the group of death,” Kuraly said. “We knew we had to just win two games to get out of our group. When you get to the medal round, anything can happen.

“We had a lot of expectations for ourselves, but I don’t know if the rest of the tournament did. We had nothing to lose. We weren’t supposed to win. We were just going there as a bunch of guys. If we medaled, that was going to be good.”

Barber said it was “pretty cool” to receive a gold medal, watch the American flag go up and sing the National Anthem.

“We weren’t the best singers … at least I tried,” Barber said. “It’s an unbelievable experience to play in a tournament you grow up watching. To honor your country that way, to win it, is something I won’t forget.”

It was the first trip to Russia for both players. The familiarity with each other on the ice was clearly a bonus.

Once in Russia, the team didn’t have much free time.

“We went to a couple restaurants. That’s about it,” Kuraly said. “It was hockey, hockey, hockey. We played seven games in maybe 10 nights, so we barely had any rest. Whenever we had time to not do anything, we were sleeping and eating.

“It snowed literally every day there. It didn’t seem to matter. Everybody was just driving right on the snow, no lines on the road it looked like. It didn’t faze anybody.

“It was out in the middle of nowhere a little bit, but the fans were great. The tournament was put on so well. We had police escorts everywhere. It’s a different lifestyle there, but it’s cool to see. When else will I go to Russia like that?”

Even with all the emotion that comes with winning on such a grand stage, both players said they were eager to get back to their Miami teammates and play at Northern Michigan last weekend.

“It was awesome to win, but to be honest, I really excited to come back,” Barber said. “I missed these guys a lot. I wanted to get back and win the next thing.”

“When you play for your country, it’s a big deal, but those things only last so long,” Kuraly said. “You’ve just got to keep it in perspective. World Juniors is huge, but it’s three weeks, and once you’re done there, you’re done. I love playing here. Games here are just as fun as there or anywhere else.”

Barber and Kuraly are the first RedHawks to win World Junior gold. Only two other Miami players have medaled — Jeff Zatkoff (2007) and Greg Dornbach (1986) captured bronze.

Tyler Biggs, who played for MU last season and is now in the Ontario Hockey League, was also a member of the gold medal-winning squad. He collected one assist.