Sunday, November 9, 2008

U-18 Wins Gold

U-18 Wins the Four Nations Tournament

LAKE PLACID, N.Y.Kyle Palmieri's (Montvale, N.J.) second-period goal stood to be the game-winner as the U.S. National Under-18 Team defeated Finland, 3-2, in the championship game of the 2008 Men's Under-18 Four Nations Cup here tonight. The U.S. finished the tournament unbeaten, with a 3-1-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record.

"The win was a big step for our team," said Ron Rolston, head coach of Team USA. "We got stronger as the tournament went on and played well collectively. We're very proud of the effort the players put forth this week to win the tournament."

Ryan Bourque(Boxford, Mass.) put Team USA ahead early after he blasted a slapshot over the glove of netminder Joni Ortio at 1:16 of the opening stanza. Finland answered back with a Jaako Turtiainen power-play tally at 6:41.

Team USA regained the lead in the second period after Cam Fowler (Farmington Hills, Mich.) found Drew Shore (Denver, Colo.) who put a backhanded shot into the top of the net at 11:36. Just 41 seconds later, Brendan Rempel (Willington, Conn.) dropped the puck to a streaking Palmieri who wristed a shot trough Ortio from the between the faceoff circles.

In the final stanza, Toni Rajala brought his team within one goal at 12:14, but that was as close as Finland would come as Team USA held off a relentless attack from its opponents.

Brandon Maxwell(Winter Park, Fla.) made 18 saves to earn the victory in net.

NOTES:Ryan Bourque was named U.S. Player of the Game ... Cam Fowler led Team USA with five points in the tournament (0-5), while Kenny Ryan (Franklin Village, Mich.) paced Team USA in goals with three. Fowler's five assists also earned him a share of the tournament lead in that category ... Finland finished second in the tournament, with Sweden and Switzerland closed the tournament in third and fourth place, respectively ... The 2008 Men's Under-18 Four Nations Cup ran simultaneously with the 2008 Women's Four Nations Cup, which concludes tomorrow, in Lake Placid.

U-17 Falls to Russia

MONTHEY, Switzerland. – The United States National Under-17 Team fell to Russia, 5-4, here tonight its second game at the 2008 Under-17 Four Nations Cup. Jason Zucker (Las Vegas, Nev.) notched two goals for Team USA.

"Overall, I thought we played well," said John Hynes, head coach of Team USA. "The lesson of tonight's game is we have to be detailed and consistent for all 60 minutes."

After Russia registered a power-play goal at 5:08 of the opening period, Zucker scored on a backhand shot to tie the game at 13:52. With the U.S. on a power play, Emerson Etem (Long Beach, Calif.) found Matthew Nieto (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) wide open in front of the net who scored five-hole at 15:10 to put Team USA up, 2-1.

Luke Moffatt (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) scored off a rebound from just outside the crease at 7:15 of the second stanza to give the U.S. a two-goal advantage. Russia scored three power-play goals in the final 50 seconds of the period and took a 4-3 lead into the second intermission.

After Russia took a two-goal lead at 1:18 of the third period, Zucker notched his second tally of the game. Zucker controlled the rebound of a U.S. shot from the point and deposited it into the back of the Russian net at 3:21. Team USA outshot Russia, 37-21, but was unable to find the equalizer accounting for the 5-4 final.

The U.S. National Under-17 Team continues play in the 2008 Under-17 Four Nations Cup tomorrow (Nov. 9) when it faces Switzerland at 8:30 a.m. EST, in Monthey, Switzerland.

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

With their deep offensive firepower (and solid goalies), this group of boys has great potential as a team; however, they need to stabilize their defense. Their first D pairing (Fowler/Rempel) was on ice for 5 out of the 8 even strength goals in the tournament. Even allowing that forwards do affect plus/minus, that's way too lopsided of a statistic for it to not mean something. And yet their penalty kill (by committee) was almost flawless (only one pp goal in 4 games). A great team effort that should only get better.

Anonymous said...

Agreed that it's a very deep team indeed; Fowler's point total is third on the whole team, so it's no owonder that hes on the ice so much. Thats what the pro scouts want; they will correct the mistakes later. a talent like that will definitely end up in the ohl. It will be intersting to see how they do when they face Sweden's A team at the five nations tourny in Sweden.