| U.S. Falls to Finland, 3-2, To Earn Silver at 2019 WJCU.S. captures fourth-straight tournament medal as Ryan Poehling earns Tournament MVP, Best Forward honors VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Sasha Chmelevski (Northville, Mich./Ottawa 67’s) and Josh Norris (Oxford, Mich./University of Michigan) scored and Cayden Primeau (Voorhees, N.J./Northeastern University) turned aside 28 shots but the U.S. National Junior Team fell to Finland, 3-2, in the gold-medal game of the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship.”We knew from day one that this group had something special, and even though we didn’t play the perfect game, it was almost enough,” said Mike Hastings (Crookston, Minn./Minnesota State), head coach of the 2019 U.S. National Junior Team. “There’s no doubt this stings, especially with the way we came back from a two-goal deficit, but there’s a lot this group can be proud of in helping the United States earn a fourth-straight medal in this tournament. These players earned a medal for our country and it won’t be the last. This is the future of USA Hockey and I think I speak for our nation when I say we’re excited to see these players one day represent our country again and I have no doubt they’ll one day bring gold home.”Team USA’s (5-0-1-1/W-OTW-OTL-L) silver-medal finish continues its unprecedented medal streak in tournament play after winning gold in 2017 and earning bronze-medals in 2016 and 2018. The U.S. now has 12 medals in tournament play, including four gold medals (2004, 2010, 2013, 2017), two silver medals (1997, 2019) and six bronze medals (1986, 1992, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2018).Following the game, Ryan Poehling (Lakeville, Minn./St. Cloud State University) was named Tournament MVP and earned the Directorate Award as Best Forward, finishing with five goals and three assists. In Team USA’s 5-4 preliminary overtime loss to Sweden, Poehling led a four-goal comeback with an assist and a natural hat trick in the final 10:26 of regulation. Following its semifinal win over Russia yesterday, Poehling, captain Mikey Anderson (Roseville, Minn./University of Minnesota Duluth) and forward Jason Robertson (Northville, Mich./Niagara IceDogs) were tabbed Team USA’s Top Three Players of the Tournament.For the complete game recap, click here.2019 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship Team USA Schedule – Dec. 26, 2018 – Jan. 5, 2019 – Vancouver & Victoria, B.C. All U.S. Tournament Games To Be Televised Live on NHL NetworkDateOpponent & RoundResultLocationThurs., Dec. 20Russia Pre-TournamentW, 3-2Kamloops, B.C. Sandman CentreSat., Dec. 22Czech Republic Pre-TournamentW, 6-2Langley, B.C. Langley Event CentreWed., Dec. 26Slovakia PreliminaryW, 2-1Victoria, B.C. Save-On-Foods Memorial CentreFri., Dec. 28Kazakhstan PreliminaryW, 8-2Victoria, B.C. Save-On-Foods Memorial CentreSat., Dec. 29Sweden PreliminaryOTL, 4-5Victoria, B.C. Save-On-Foods Memorial CentreMon., Dec. 31Finland PreliminaryW, 4-1Victoria, B.C. Save-On-Foods Memorial CentreWed., Jan. 2Czech Republic QuarterfinalW, 3-1Victoria, B.C. Save-On-Foods Memorial CentreFri., Jan. 4Russia SemifinalW, 2-1Vancouver, B.C. Rogers ArenaSat., Jan. 5Finland Gold-Medal GameL, 2-3Vancouver, B.C. Rogers Arena NOTES: Forward Sasha Chmelevski was tabbed U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. was outshot by Finland, 31-28, went 0-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. For complete game statistics, click here … John Vanbiesbrouck (Detroit, Mich.), assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey, is serving as the general manager of the U.S. National Junior Team … Poehling is just the fourth-ever U.S. player to earn Tournament MVP honors after Zach Parise (2004), John Gibson (2013) and Casey Mittelstadt (2018) … For more information about the tournament, click here. |
