KAZAN, Russia - Danny Kristo's (Eden Prairie, Minn.) goal at the 1:16 mark of the third period proved to be the deciding marker as the U.S. National Under-18 Team defeated Finland by a score of 4-3 here tonight in both team's final preliminary-round game of the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Hockey Championship.

"Our effort and intensity helped us get through a very challenging and meaningful game tonight," said John Hynes, head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team. "Now our attention shifts to another strong opponent in Germany."

Team USA scored its first of three goals in the opening period, just 53 seconds into the game when Jordan Schroeder (Prior Lake, Minn.) netted his third marker of the tournament. Aaron Ness (Roseau, Minn.) doled out his fourth assist of the event, after he faked a shot from the left point and hit Schroeder with a nifty pass inside the right circle. Schroeder then sent a low wrist shot through the legs of Finnish netminder Rasmus Rinne.

Jonas Rask tied up the score at the 4:19 mark of the stanza for the Finns, but Team USA notched the next two goals of the frame. Fifty-seconds after Rask's marker, Kyle Palmieri(Montvale, N.J.) slipped a shot from the bottom of the right circle past Rinne on the glove side, thanks to assists from Robbie Czarnik (Washington, Mich.) and Kristo. Justin Florek(Marquette, Mich.) added his third tally of the tournament for Team USA, on the power play, at 10:04. While positioned in front of the net, Florek took a feed from Ryan Bourque(Boxford, Mass.) and quickly directed into the net. David Warsofsky (Marshfield, Mass.) chipped in the second helper on the play.

Kristo's game-winner was the result of helpers from Czarnik and Ryan Grimshaw(Rochester, N.Y.). Kristo fired a wrist shot from the bottom corner of the left circle that confused Rinne, and ended up in the back of the net.

The score remained 4-2 until Finland blueliner Tommi Kivisto banged in a rebound from just in front of the Team USA net at 2:31 of the period, while his team was skating with a man advantage.

The rest of the period was tightly-contested on both ends of the ice, but in the end the Americans held on to conclude the preliminary round of the tournament with a 3-1 record and nine points.

Team USA goaltender Brandon Maxwell (Winter Park, Fla.) turned aside 20 of the 23 shots he encounteredR, while inne posted 31saves in the loss for the Finns.

The U.S. National Under-18 Team is off tomorrow before it takes on Germany in one of two quarterfinal games scheduled to be played at Tatneft Arena this Sunday (April 20). Opening faceoff is slated for 5 p.m. local time (9 a.m. EDT).

Notes: Robbie Czarnik (two assists) and Danny Kristo (one goal, one assist) recorded multi-point performances, and Kristo secured his first game-winner of the 2008 IIHF World Under-18 Championship ... Philip McRae and Jeremy Morin are tied for the team lead with five points. Morin is the club's top goal scorer with four... Aaron Ness and David Warsofsky continue to lead Team USA's crew of defensemen with four points ... Sweden (12 points) finished alone on top of Pool B, while the United States (nine points) and Finland (six points) ranked second and third, respectively ... Russia (12 points), Canada (nine points) and Germany (five points) were the top three teams in Pool A ... As the top seeds in their pools, Sweden and Russia earned automatic berths into the semifinals, which will take place Monday (April 21) at Tatneft Arena ... All U.S. games in the 2008 IIHF World Under-18 Championship will be audiocast live at USAHockey.com ... The 2008 IIHF World Under-18 Championship features the best athletes under the age of 18 with participating teams including the United States, Belarus, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland ... Team USA won the silver medal at the 2007 IIHF World Under-18 Championship and won the gold medal at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship in both 2005 and 2006 to mark the first time in U.S. hockey history that a team has earned back-to-back gold medals at an IIHF event.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 3 0 1 4
FIN 1 1 1 3

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Schroeder (Ness), 0:53; 1, FIN, Rask (Rissanen), 4:19; 2, USA, Palmieri (Czarnik, Kristo), 5:09; 3, USA, Florek (Bourque, Warsofsky), 10:04 (pp). Penalties: FIN, Hietikko (hooking), 1:16; FIN, Eronen (cross-checking), 8:18; FIN, Kivisto (hooking), 10:52; FIN, Vatanen (tripping), 12:14; USA, McRae (hooking), 16:58.

Second Period - Scoring: 2, FIN, Hartikainen (Rask, Sallinen), 11:08 (pp). Penalties: USA, McCarey (hooking), 10:25; USA, Hegarty (tripping), 15:21; FIN, Hartikainen (roughing), 17:59; USA, Lofquist (roughing), 17:59; FIN, Sallinen (interference), 19:00.

Third Period - Scoring: 4, USA, Kristo (Czarnik, Grimshaw), 1:16; 3, FIN, Kivisto (Pitkanen), 2:31 (pp). Penalties: USA, Palmieri (interference), 1:48; USA, Moore (slashing), 5:48; FIN, Ikonen (checking from behind), 11:30; FIN, Ikonen (10-misconduct), 11:30; USA, Grimshaw (cross-checking), 15:59; FIN, Rissanen (checking to the head), 18:47; FIN, Rissanen (10-misconduct), 18:47 

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total
USA   19 8 8 35
FIN   5 7 11 23
           
Goaltenders (SH/SV)   1 2 3 Total
USA, Maxwell, 60:00   5-4 7-6 11-10 23-20
FIN, Rinne, 59:58   19-16 8-8 8-7 35-31

Power Play: USA 1-8; FIN 2-7
Penalties: USA 7-14; FIN 10-36
Officials: Referees - Ole Hansen, Peter Jonak; Linesmen - Daniel Bechard, Andreas Kowert
Attendance: 770