EDMONTON, Alberta – Nicholas Robertson (Northville, Mich.) scored a hat trick, but the U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team fell to Canada in overtime, 6-5, here tonight in the semifinals of the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup at Rogers Place.
Team USA will take on Russia for third-place in the competition tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET. The contest will be televised live in the U.S. on NHL Network.
Robertson opened the game’s scoring 3:20 into play with a shot from the left circle that beat Canadian goaltender Noal Maier on the power play.
Alexis Lafreniere tied the contest for Canada 2:19 later when he fired a point-blank shot past netminder Dustin Wolf (Tustin, Calif.).
The U.S. responded just over a minute after Lafreniere’s tally to regain the lead. The play started when a rebound bounced off of Maier to Aaron Huglen (Roseau, Minn.), who gathered the puck behind goal, lifted it on the blade of his stick and stuffed it into the net for the tally.
Jamieson Rees made it a 2-2 score at 8:10 of the frame when he converted a rebound during a net-front scramble.
Robertson gave the U.S. the lead once again with a shot from the right circle that beat Maier five-hole just off an offensive-zone faceoff with 5:20 remaining in the stanza.
Canada tied the game at 3-3 with a power-play goal by Xavier Parent 8:34 into the second period.
Josh Williams gave Canada its first lead of the game with a power-play tally from the right circle at 3:31 of the final frame.
Robertson completed his hat trick to tie the game with 8:02 remaining. After a failed clearing attempt by Canada, Robertson gathered the puck along the side boards and ripped a shot from the left circle for the game-tying goal.
Just 1:35 later, Luke Toporowski (Bettendorf, Iowa) put home a centering pass from Josh Groll (San Diego, Calif.) to give Team USA the lead.
Canada tied the game on a goal by Dylan Cozens with less than a second remaining to send the game into overtime.
Williams netted the game-winner for Canada 1:44 into the extra frame.
Wolf finished with 29 saves for the U.S.
NOTES: The U.S. outshot Canada, 37-35, finished 1-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill
