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USA White Beats Finland, 5-2; USA Blue Falls to Sweden, 4-3
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| Cammarata records goal and two assists for USA White; Butcher collects two goals and an assist for USA Blue |
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LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – International play at the 2013 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp continued today at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena. USA White bested Finland, 5-2, as Taylor Cammarata(Plymouth, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota) posted a goal and two assists. In USA Blue’s 4-3 loss to Sweden, Will Butcher (Sun Prairie, Wis./Univ. of Denver) tallied two goals and an assist from the blue line.
“The evaluation of all the players in camp continues,” said Don Lucia, head coach of the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team. “I give our guys a lot of credit to get back in the game against Sweden after falling behind 3-0. In the second game, our guys got off to a great start against Finland with the 5-0 lead. There were a lot of good things today that forced us to reevaluate who we are going to keep for the rest of the week,” Sweden got out to a 2-0 first period lead with power-play goals at 1:38 and 11:12. The Swedes extended their advantage to 3-0 at 6:41 of the second stanza. USA Blue trimmed its deficit to 3-2 with goals at 10:01 and 19:16 of the second period. Brady Vail (Palm City, Fla.) won an offensive zone faceoff to Stefan Matteau (Chicago, Ill.), who fed the puck back to Butcher for a one-timer that beat the goalie high. Adam Erne (New Haven, Conn.) buried a rebound from the top of the crease following a point-blank chance by Connor Carrick (Orland Park, Ill.). Butcher initiated the play from the blue line.
Halfway through the third period, Sweden doubled its lead to 4-2 with its third power-play goal of the day.
Butcher blasted another one-timer into the Sweden net with 2:17 left in regulation to make it a one-goal game.Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill./Univ. of Notre Dame) spun out of traffic behind the net and fed Butcher atop the left circle.
USA Blue pulled its netminder in the final minute, but despite intense pressure it could not tally the equalizer.
Starting goaltender Thatcher Demko (San Diego, Calif./Boston College) stopped 20 of 23 shots in 29:57 of action. Anthony Stolarz (Edison, N.J.) turned aside seven of the eight shots he faced.
In game two, USA White grabbed a 3-0 advantage over a four-minute span in the first frame. Zach Stepan(Hastings, Minn./Minnesota State Univ.-Mankato) slammed in a goalmouth feed from Cammarata on the power play at 6:22. Forty-one seconds later, Connor Clifton (Matawan, N.J./Quinnipiac Univ.) streaked through the neutral zone and aimed high from the right circle. At 10:06, Cammarata collected a bouncing puck behind the net and beat the goalie to the right post on a wraparound shot.
Ian McCoshen (Hudson, Wis./Boston College) padded the lead when he found space between the left post and the goalie’s shoulder 8:04 into the second period. With 3:29 left, Michael McCarron (Macomb, Mich.) pounced on a rebound in the crease to make it 5-0 USA White after 40 minutes.
Finland notched a pair of goals in the final two minutes to cap the scoring.
Collin Olson (Apple Valley, Minn./Ohio State Univ.) started in the USA White net and stopped all 15 shots in 30:10. Jon Gillies (South Portland, Maine/Providence College) made four saves on six shots.
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