EURAJOKI, Finland – Trent Frederic (St. Louis, Mo.) scored with 16 seconds remaining in the third period as the U.S. National Under-18 Team clipped Finland, 3-2, here this evening. The pre-tournament contest comes before the 2016 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament in Rauma, Finland.
Kieffer Bellows (Edina, Minn.) opened the scoring for the U.S. midway through the first frame. Clayton Keller (Swansea, Ill.) and Joey Anderson (Roseville, Minn.) collected helpers on the play. Patrick Khodorenko (Walnut Creek, Calif.) doubled Team USA’s lead, 2-0, at 15:54. The assists were attributed to J.D. Greenway (Potsdam, N.Y.) and Zach Walker (Boise, Idaho).
Finland netted the game’s next two goals, one in the second period and a power-play marker in the third, to knot the contest, 2-2. The game would remain deadlocked until Frederic lit the lamp for the U.S. with 16 seconds left on the clock. James Sanchez (Northbrook, Ill.) and Adam Fox (Jericho, N.Y.) registered assists on the game-winning tally.
Jake Oettinger (Lakeville, Minn.) made the start in net for the U.S. and turned aside 12 of 13 attempts. Joseph Woll (St. Louis, Mo.) entered the game after the first Finnish score and also stopped 12 of 13 shots against.
The U.S. National Under-18 Team next faces Russia on Thursday (Feb. 11) in its first game of the 2016 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament. Team USA will go on to play Sweden (Feb. 12), Finland (Feb. 13) and the Czech Republic (Feb. 14) in consecutive days.
NOTES: The United States was outshot by Finland, 26-23 … Team USA went 0-1 on the power play while Finland went 1-3 … The United States roster is made up entirely of members of the 2015-16 U.S. National Under-18 Team, part of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program based in Plymouth, Michigan. A complete roster can be found here … Team USA is competing against teams from the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden in the round-robin tournament … The U.S. is looking to reclaim the tournament title after finishing second in last year’s event held in the Czech Republic. Team USA has previously claimed first place in 1999, 2005, 2007-09 and 2011. The U.S. also earned first in 2001 when a Three Nations Tournament was held in place of the traditional Five Nations Tournament … The official tournament website can be found here … Follow @USAHockeyNTDP and @USAHockeyScores on Twitter for tournament updates and join the conversation on social media by using the #5NationsU18 tag.
Team USA Schedule | 2016 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament
Feb. 11-14 | Rauma, Finland
Date Game Time (ET) / Result
Mon., Feb. 8 Finland* W, 3-2
Thurs., Feb. 11 Russia 9:00 a.m.
Fri., Feb. 12 Sweden 12:00 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 13 Finland 7:00 a.m.
Sun., Feb. 14 Czech Republic 10:00 a.m.
*Pre-tournament game
