HAMEENLINNA, Finland – Trevor Janicke (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass.) tallied goals for the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team in its 3-2 shootout loss to Switzerland on Wednesday afternoon at Ritarihalli Arena in the opening game of the 2017 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament.
Switzerland struck first with just :05 left in the opening period and had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Neither team was able to score in the second period despite multiple man-advantage opportunities so the score remained 1-0 heading into the final period.
Janicke tipped a shot by Erik Middendorf (Scottsdale, Ariz.) past Switzerland goaltender Akira Schmid at 9:21 of the third period to tie the game at 1-1. Jonathan Gruden (Rochester, Mich.) also earned an assist on the play.
The U.S. took the lead 1:19 later when Wahlstrom gathered a stretch pass from Bode Wilde (Birmingham, Mich.) at the Switzerland blueline, deked around a defender and pushed the puck past Schmid.
Switzerland tied the game at the 19:32 mark of the period to force overtime.
U.S. goaltender Drew DeRidder (Fenton, Mich.) stopped a penalty shot in the overtime frame in addition to leading the U.S. kill off a late-period penalty to send the game to a shootout.
DeRidder, who finished with 17 saves, stopped 11-of-13 shootout attempts.
The U.S. National Under-18 Team is back in action on Friday (Nov. 10) for its 9 a.m. ET matchup with Sweden at Ritarihalli Arena. A live stream will be available here.
NOTES: The U.S. outshot Switzerland, 28-19 … Both teams went 0-5 on the power play … Ty Emberson (Eau Claire, Wis.) was named the U.S. Player of the Game … Live streaming, schedule, statistics and full schedule information can be found on the official tournament website here … The Team USA tournament homepage can be found here … The U.S. will compete against the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland in this tournament … Complete tournament history can be found here … Follow @USAHockeyNTDP on Twitter for tournament updates and join the conversation on social media by using #5NationsU18 … Seth Appert (Cottage Grove, Minn.) is leading the U.S. National Under-18 Team in the event for the first time. Appert is joined by associate coach Nick Fohr (Grand Forks, N.D.), goaltending coach Kevin Reiter (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and intern assistant coach Mason Graddock (Stowe, Vt.).
