TORONTO – Jordan Greenway (Canton, N.Y./Boston University) notched a goal and two assists and Joseph Woll (St. Louis, Mo./Boston College) made 25 saves to lead the U.S. National Junior Team past Canada, 3-1, here today at Air Canada Centre in its final preliminary-round game of the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.
“This was a tough road game to play and I’m proud of every one of these guys for the effort they gave to get the win,” said Bob Motzko (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud State University), head coach of the 2017 U.S. National Junior Team. “We’ve been happy with our team for a while now, but tonight we overcame adversity and played with a lot of fire. We haven’t won anything yet, though. We’ll enjoy this tonight, but starting tomorrow it’s time to turn our attention to the playoff round.”
With the victory, Team USA (4-0-0-0) finishes atop its preliminary round group for the first time since 2011 and advances to the quarterfinal round on Monday (Jan. 2) against the fourth seed from Group A. The game will be televised live on NHL Network and the start time will be officially announced later tonight.
The U.S. jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of power-play goals in the first 6:04 of the contest. Colin White (Hanover, Mass./Boston College) opened the scoring 4:31 into play when he one-timed a centering pass by Greenway to extend his goal-scoring streak to four games to open the tournament.
Greenway doubled Team USA’s advantage just 1:33 later when he collected a feed in the corner from Clayton Keller (St. Louis, Mo./Boston University), skated towards goal and slid a shot between the pads of Canadian netminder Connor Ingram.
The U.S. killed off three minor penalties in the opening frame, including a :48 five-on-three advantage for Canada, to keep the score 2-0 entering the first intermission.
Canada cut Team USA’s lead in half at 8:12 of the second stanza on a goal by Thomas Chabot from the left faceoff dot during a two-man advantage.
The U.S. responded 4:56 later when Jeremy Bracco (Freeport, N.Y./Kitchener Rangers) scored from an odd-angle off a shot attempt by Ryan Lindgren (Minneapolis, Minn./University of Minnesota).
Joey Anderson (Roseville, Minn./University of Minnesota Duluth) nearly added another insurance marker for the U.S. in the final minute of the second period, but his breakaway attempt was gloved by Ingram.
Woll finished with 25 saves, including nine in the final period, to preserve the 3-1 victory for Team USA and earn his second victory of the tournament.
NOTES: Ryan Lindgren was named U.S. Player of the Game … Team USA was outshot by Canada, 26-20, while finishing 2-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill … For full game stats, click here … At the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, the U.S. competed in Group B alongside Canada, Latvia, Russia and Slovakia. All U.S. games will be broadcast live on NHL Network … For complete coverage of Team USA at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, click here … Use the hashtag #USAWJC on Twitter to join the conversation about the 2017 U.S. National Junior Team.
