MONTHEY, Switzerland — Jake Wise (North Andover, Mass.) and Jake Pivonka (Woodridge, Ill.) each added a goal and an assist in the U.S. National Under-17 Team’s 4-1 win against Russia in its second game of the Under-17 Four Nations Tournament. The U.S. outshot Russia 54-13 in the victory.
With the win, the U.S. is 2-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) at the tournament. The U17s will continue competition when they face Switzerland at 10:30 a.m. ET tomorrow (Dec. 18).
Team USA went down 1-0 late in the first period after Russia scored a power-play goal from the left faceoff dot at the 18:09 mark.
At 5:41 of the second stanza, Pivonka evened the score after redirecting a shot by K’Andre Miller (Hopkins, Minn.) from the blue line during a U.S. power play. Ty Emberson (Eau Claire, Wis.) added the secondary helper by feeding the puck to Miller.
Just 3:05 later, Wise gave Team USA the lead with his eventual game-winning goal as he shoveled in a loose puck at the top of the crease. Tyler Weiss (Raleigh, N.C.) and Patrick Giles (Chevy Chase, Md.) picked up assists on the play.
Wise added his second point of the game during a Team USA man-advantage after Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass.) rocketed his centering pass past Russian goaltender Amir Miftakhov to make it 3-1.
A few minutes into the third period, Jake Goldowski (Thornhurst, Pa.) cut across the crease and lifted a backhander into the open net at 6:08 to cap Team USA scoring at 4-1.
U.S. netminder Keegan Karki (Sartell, Minn.) stopped 12 shots in the win while Miftakhov made 50 saves.
NOTES: Tyler Weiss was named the U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. is competing in the 2016 Under-17 Four Nations Tournament with Russia, Slovakia and Switzerland … Follow along on Twitter at @usahockeyntdp and using the hashtag #4NationsU17 …
