BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Dayton Rasmussen (Eden Prairie, Minn.) entered the game in the second period and stopped 21 of 22 shots for Team USA, but the U.S. Under-18 Select Team fell, 5-1, to Finland in the opening match of the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in Bratislava, Slovakia.
“The game got away from us today, and we didn’t capitalize on our chances to get back into the game,” said Derek Plante (Cloquet, Minn.), head coach of the 2015 U.S. Under-18 Select Team. “Tomorrow, we’ll need to compete much harder to have a chance to beat a good Russian team.”
Finland scored four times in the opening period with goals by Otto Makinen, Eetu Pylkkanen, Robin Salo and Otto Somppi.
Goaltender Stephen Dhillon (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished with eight saves in the first period before Rasmussen took the net to start the second frame.
Timmy Gettinger (North Olmsted, Ohio) put the U.S. on the board to make it 4-1 with 3:53 remaining in the second period. Benjamin Lown (Newport Coast, Calif.) collected a pass from Benjamin Gleason (Ortonville, Mich.) at Finland’s blue line, skated the it into the zone and found Gettinger in front of the net, who tapped the puck past Finnish goaltender Isokangas Severi.
Finland regained a four-goal lead when Makinen scored high glove-side at 18:39, his second marker of the game, to make the score 5-1.
The U.S. found the back of the net :32 into the third period, but the goal was immediately waved off because an American player was in the crease during the play. Neither team was able to connect in the final frame.
Team USA continues competition tomorrow (Aug. 11) when they face Russia at 8 a.m. ET. Fans can watch a live stream of the matchup here.
Notes: The U.S. is competing in Group B along with Slovakia, Finland and Russia … Mitch Eliot (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) was named captain of the U.S. Under-18 Select Team, with Samuel Rossini (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and William Knierim (Skokie, Ill.) as alternate captains … The U.S. finished third at last year’s tournament … For more information on the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, click here … For full game statistics, click here … Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook using #HlinkaMemorial.
