FRISCO, Texas – The United States Under-17 Select Team scored five power-play goals en route to a 10-1 win over Slovakia tonight at the 2016 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament at the Dr Pepper StarCenter in Frisco, Texas.
“Our guys competed real hard,” said Cory Laylin (St. Michael, Minn.), head coach of the 2016 U.S. Under-17 Select Team. “I was really happy with the attitude of our team and the work ethic across the board.”
Slovakia took an early 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the contest on a goal by Martin Fasko-Rudas. The U.S. responded with a pair of goals at the 6:11 and 6:46 marks of the first period. Jack Randl (Carpentersville, Ill.) scored first, deking past a Slovak defender and beating Slovak goaltender Matej Batory with a high shot to tie the game, 1-1. Then, 35 seconds later, Jacob Semik (Canton, Mich.) collected a cross-crease feed from Randl and fired a shot past Batory to give the U.S. a 2-1 advantage. Ryan Savage (Scottsdale, Ariz.) then poked home a rebound off of a Gavin Hain (Grand Rapids, Minn.) shot late in the period to make it 3-1 Team USA after one period.
The U.S. scored three straight power-play goals to break the game open in the second period. Calen Kiefiuk (Macomb, Mich.) increased the U.S. lead to 4-1 at 4:10 of the period, then Devlin McCabe (North Oaks, Mich.) scored his first goal of the tournament 2:35 later followed by Savage scoring his second of the game to give Team USA a 6-1 advantage at the 10:56 mark of the period. John Malone (Madison, N.J.) added a late-period goal to make the score 7-1 after two frames.
Blake McLaughlin (Grand Rapids, Minn) notched two third-period goals, and Jeremy Davidson (Kalamazoo, Mich.) added another, to make the final 10-1.
Isaiah Saville (Anchorage, Alaska) made 15 saves for Team USA in the victory.
The U.S. will have a rest day tomorrow (Aug. 11) before facing the Czech Republic at 8:15 p.m. ET on Friday (Aug. 12). Slovakia faces Germany tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. ET.
—————————
RECAP: Czech Republic 6, Germany 0
The Czech Republic defeated Germany 6-0 to open second-day action at the 2016 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament at Dr Pepper StarCenter in Frisco, Texas.
Michael Kvasnica gave the Czechs a 2-0 lead with a pair of first-period goals. Voltech Dobias and Jan Jenik added second-period markers to increase the Czech advantage to 4-0. Jenik and Adam Gajarsky tallied goals at 7:03 and 11:41 of the last frame to make the final 6-0.
Kristian Kolar made eight saves to earn the shutout victory for the Czechs. Nils Kapteinat made 37 saves for Germany.
Both teams return to action tomorrow (Aug. 11) as Germany squares off against Slovakia at 4:30 p.m. ET and the Czech Republic meets Switzerland at 8:15 p.m. ET.
NOTES: In addition to the United States, the 2016 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament will also include teams from Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany … For complete Under-17 Five Nations tournament coverage, click here. … Ann Arbor, Michigan, was the last U.S. city to host the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament (2011) … The Dr Pepper StarCenter Arena, host site for the 2016 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament, serves as the practice facility for the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars.
