CALGARY, Alberta – Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior, Minn.) scored two goals, but the U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team was edged, 3-2, by Canada here tonight in the opening game of the 2016 Under-18 Series at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, Alberta.
“There was a good pace to tonight’s game and we played well and with a lot of intensity,” said Joel Johnson, head coach of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team. “We fell behind but never gave up and showed a lot of character in battling back but ultimately fell short. We will build off that effort for tomorrow’s game.”
Amy Potomak gave Canada a 1-0 lead 6:46 into play with a backhand shot from the bottom of the left circle.
Potamak netted her second tally of the game on a breakaway 4:16 into the second period to extend Canada’s advantage to 2-0, but Zumwinkle cut Canada’s lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal with 6:20 remaining in the middle frame. Cayla Barnes (Corona, Calif.) fed a cross-ice pass to Zumwinkle, who one-timed the feed and beat Canadian goaltender Edith D’Astous-Moreau. Gracie Ostertag (Shakopee, Minn.) also picked up an assist on the play.
Zumwinkle tied the game with her second goal after she forced a turnover in the Canadian zone and fired a wrist shot from the slot past D’Astous-Moreau just 1:16 into the final period.
Daryl Watts scored the game-winner for Canada with 3:00 left in regulation.
Alex Gulstene (Evanston, Ill.) stopped 20 shots for Team USA.
The U.S. and Canada meet each other in the second game of the 2016 Under-18 Series tomorrow (Aug. 19) at 9 p.m. ET.
NOTES: The U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team was chosen from the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival that took place Aug. 8-12 in Lake Placid, New York … The Under-18 Series has been held annually since 2007 … All games from the series are being streamed live and are available at hockeycanada.ca … Follow @USAHockeyScores on Twitter for live scoring updates with the #U18Series hashtag …
