COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Ryder Donovan (Duluth, Minn.) combined with his northeastern Minnesota high school hockey rivals Friday to give the United States Under-18 Men’s Select Team a 4-3 overtime victory against Finland in the teams’ 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup finale.
Midway through a 3-on-3 extra session, Donovan hopped onto the ice with Blake McLaughlin (Grand Rapids, Minn.) and Gavin Hain (Grand Rapids, Minn.) to form a U.S. trio with back-home familiarity and a penchant for goal-scoring.
Hain fed the puck to McLaughlin, who patiently regrouped while Donovan worked his way into the play. Then, with Hain looping to the right circle, McLaughlin and Donovan exchanged passes on the left, eventually opening a lane to the net. Donovan dangled in, looked across the slot to Hain and then fired a no-look wrist shot over the goaltender’s right shoulder, launching his towel off the cage and clinching the win for Team USA.
