| U.S. National Under-17 Team Skates Past Finland in Quarterfinal |
| U.S. Nets Five Third Period Goals |
| MEDICINE HAT, Alta. –The U.S. National Under-17 Team defeated Finland, 8-4, in its quarterfinal match-up today (Nov. 7) at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge behind a hat trick from Chaz Lucius (Grant, Minn.). “Outstanding result,” head coach John Wroblewski said after the game. “I thought it was a complete team effort. I thought every guy really played a strong game and it’s important that we continue to believe in that identity. It’s what worked today and it’s what allowed us to break the game open against Finland. Now is the hard part.”Justin Janicke (Maple Grove, Minn.) scored his 10th goal of the season at 9:30 of the first period. Jacob Martin (Eagle River, Wis.) sprung Janicke at center ice and after winning a foot race, and tipping the puck behind Finland’s goaltender at the top of the slot, Janicke pushed the puck in. Finland responded at 11:08 of the first to tie the game, 1-1.Lucius gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead at the beginning of the second period. Lucius collected the puck in the middle of the slot and sent it under the blocker of Finland’s Paavo Kohonen.At 7:29 of the second period, Finland evened the game again. Lucius scored his 20th goal of the year at the 10:31 mark of the middle frame, sneaking the puck in on a one-timer from Jack Hughes (Westwood, Mass.).Sasha Pastujov (Bradenton, Fla.) sent the puck to the front of the net where Dylan Duke (Strongsville, Ohio) tipped it into the back of the net and gave Team USA a 4-2 lead. Sean Behrens (Barrington, Ill.) also picked up an assist on the goal.At 7:31 of the third period, Jack Hughes extended the U.S.’s lead, 5-2 after skating from Team USA’s blue line and wristed it in from the right circle. Pastujov picked the assist on the goal. Liam Gilmartin (Falls Church, Va.) tapped in Team USA’s sixth goal of the afternoon before Lucius netted his third of the game, completing his first international hat trick.Pastujov tallied the U.S.’s eighth goal of the game at 17:04 of the third period with help from Martin and Duke.Finland also netted two in the third for an 8-4 final score.The U.S. continues play tomorrow in semifinal action. The U.S. will play the winner of the Canada Red and Canada White quarterfinal game.2019 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge Team USA Schedule – Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada – Nov. 3-9 DateOpponentRoundTime/Result (Local/ET)Stream/BroadcastThurs., Oct. 31Canada RedPre-TournamentSOW, 7-6Hockey Canada HockeyCanada.ca/WU17Sun., Nov. 3Czech RepublicPreliminaryW, 10-1Hockey Canada HockeyCanada.ca/WU17Mon., Nov. 4Canada WhitePreliminaryW, 6-4Hockey Canada HockeyCanada.ca/WU17Tues., Nov. 5Canada BlackPreliminaryOTL, 5-4Hockey Canada HockeyCanada.ca/WU17Thurs., Nov. 7FinlandQuarterfinalsW, 8-4Hockey Canada HockeyCanada.ca/WU17Fri., Nov. 8TBDSemifinalsTBDTSNSat., Nov. 9TBDThird Place Game3 p.m./ 5 p.m.TSNSat., Nov. 9TBDChampionship Game7 p.m./ 9 p.m.TSN NOTES:Justin Janicke was the U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. went 1 for 1 on the power play … Kaidan Mbereko made 25 saves for Team USA … The U.S. outshot Finland 35 to 29 … All preliminary round games, as well as quarterfinals and placement games will be available via livestream on HockeyCanada.ca/WU17 … TSN will broadcast the Medicine Hat semifinal game, as well as the third place and championship games of the tournament … The official tournament website can be found here… The Team USA homepage for the 2019 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge can be found here … The 2019 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 #WorldU17 … John Wroblewski (Neenah, Wis.) will lead the U.S. National Under-17 Team along with associate coach Dan Hinote (Elk River, Minn.) and assistant coach Mike Leone (Dearborn, Mich.). |
