DAWSON CREEK, B.C.- The U.S. National Under-17 Team came from behind once again, scoring four third period goals, to defeat Canada Black 5-4 in its last preliminary game of the World Under-17 Challenge.
Canada Black opened the scoring at 14:20 of the first period on the power play.
Despite heading to the dressing room with a 1-0 deficit, Team USA outshot Canada Black 17-5 and rang the puck off the post twice in the first period.
After a second Canada Black power play goal, Cole Caufield (Stevens Point, Wis.) netted his team-leading 17th goal of the season at 16:09 of the second period. Caufield sent the puck over the blocker of Canada Black’s Nolan Maier off a one-timer from Matthew Boldy (Millis, Mass.). Jack Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) also added an assist on the goal.
Boldy tied the game at two apiece at 4:43 of the third with help from Alex Turcotte (Island Lake, Ill.) and Patrick Moynihan (Millis, Mass.).
Caufield sent a cross-ice pass to Hughes who shot it to the front of the net where Turcotte tipped it past Maier at 6:59 of the third period to give Team USA the lead.
Judd Caulfield (Grand Forks, N.D.) backhanded the puck into the net to extend the U.S. lead, 4-2.
Caufield netted his second of the night at 10:39 of the third period to make it 5-2. Domenick Fensore (Thornwood, N.Y.) and Alex Vlasic (Wilmette, Ill.) added assists on the goal.
Canada Black netted two goals late in the third but the U.S. held on for the win.
Team USA’s Spencer Knight (Darien, Conn.) tallied 14 saves while Canada Black’s Maier had 43 saves.
The U.S. will face Sweden (0-3-0) tomorrow (Nov.8) at 2:30 p.m. MST /4:30 p.m. ET in the quarterfinal game at Encana Events Centre in Dawson Creek, B.C. The game will be streamed on HockeyTV.com.
NOTES: The U.S. outshot Canada Black, 48-18…The U.S. went 1-6 on the power play while Canada Black went 3-4… Alex Turcotte (1-1-2) was named the U.S. player of the game…Jack Hughes and Cole Caufield are tied for first in tournament points with 7…Hughes and Caufield are also part of a four-way tie for first in assists with 4…The 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge includes two groups of four teams. Group A features Canada Black, Canada White, the Czech Republic and the United States, while Group B includes Canada Red, Finland, Russia and Sweden…Follow @USAHockeyNTDP on Twitter for tournament updates and join the conversation on social media by using #WU17USA and #WorldU17. For complete tournament coverage, visit the Hockey Canada website.
