USA Blue Falls to Sweden, 5-2
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Erik Foley (Mansfield, Mass.) and Jordan Greenway (Potsdam, N.Y.) each tallied a shorthanded breakaway goal, but Team USA Blue fell to Sweden, 5-2, in its first international game of the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp here today in Lake Placid, New York.
USA Blue opened the scoring 2:57 into the contest when Greenway connected during a U.S. penalty kill. He stole the puck from a Swedish defender at the blue line and skated in for a one-on-one attempt with Sweden goaltender Felix Sandstrom that found its way into the net between Sandstrom’s legs.
Three minutes later, Henrik Tonrqvist’s shot from the left circle hit the side of the goal and bounced off goaltender Kris Oldham’s (Anchorage, Alaska) back and into the net to make it 1-1. Sweden took a 2-1 lead at 12:16 when Gustav Bouramman beat Oldham blocker side.
Sweden extended its lead to 3-1 six minutes into the second stanza. USA Blue made it 3-2 three minutes later when Foley scored USA Blue’s second shorthanded breakaway tally of the game. The play began when Colin White (Hanover, Mass.) poke-checked the puck at center ice and found Foley skating toward goal alone. Foley collected the pass and beat Sandstrom low blocker side.
Sweden connected again with six minutes remaining in the final stanza to make it 4-2. An empty-net goal by Sweden with :41 to play accounted for the 5-2 final.
Oldham finished with 8 saves before Brandon Halverson (Traverse City, Mich.) took the net midway through the second period. Halverson stopped 18 of 19 shots.
USA White Defeats Finland, 5-2
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Sonny Milano (Massapequa, N.Y.) scored twice and added one assist as Team USA White defeated Finland, 5-2, to open international competition at the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp here today in Lake Placid, New York.
Finland opened the scoring 1:17 into the contest when Patrik Laine beat Luke Opilka (St. Louis, Mo.) from the left circle. Milano put USA White on the board two minutes later when he collected a pass from Brock Boeser (Burnsville, Minn.) from the blue line, skated passed a Finnish defender, and beat Finland goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen glove side.
Scott Eansor (Englewood, Colo.) gave USA White a 2-1 lead at 13:54 when he took a pass from Conor Garland (Scituate, Mass.) and scored high glove-side. Opilka made his best stop of the period with a sprawling glove save with just more than a minute remaining in the period.
Finland evened the score, 2-2, at 2:49 of the second stanza on a goal by Juho Lammikko.
A power play goal from Nick Schmaltz (Verona, Wis.) at 11:29 made it 3-2, USA White. The play started when Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz.) circled behind the goal line and found Chad Krys (Ridgefield, Conn.) at the blue line, who then sent a cross-ice pass to Schmaltz for the go-ahead goal.
USA White made it 4-2 at 8:31 in the final stanza when Milano scored a shorthanded tally off a pass from Brandon Carlo (Colorado Springs, Colo.) for his second goal of the game.
Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich.) sealed the win for USA White with an empty-net goal off a feed from Milano with 1:42 remaining.
The USA White goaltending duo of Opilka and Evan Sarthou (Black Diamond, Wash.) combined for a .913 save percentage. Opilka stopped eight of the nine shots he faced while Sarthou went 13-for-14.
