skip navigation

vanRiemsdyk Scores and Unice Stops All Three Canadians in Shootout

By Men's World Championships, 04/20/07, 2:15PM EDT

Share

TAMPERE, Finland – James vanRiemsdyk (Middletwon, N.J.) scored his second goal of the night and Josh Unice (Toledo, Ohio) stopped all three of Canada’s shootout attempts to lead the U.S. National Under-18 Team past Canada, 4-3, at the Tampere Hakameta in the semifinal round at the 2007 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship. Team USA will face Russia in the gold-medal game on Sunday (April 22) at 11 a.m. EDT.

“Tonight was a great hockey game between two very evenly matched teams,” said Ron Rolston, head coach of Team USA. “Canada is a good hockey club and tonight was a battle. I am very proud of the way our guys fought back in the third period. We’ll look to carry this momentum into Sunday when we face a skilled Russian squad.”

Vinny Saponari (Powder Springs, Ga.) opened the scoring with 15 seconds remaining in the first period when Jim O’Brien (Maplewood, Minn.) carried the puck deep into the Canadian zone and found his linemate trailing the play. Saponari took the pass and fired the puck over Canadian netminder Trevor Cann’s shoulder to give Team USA a 1-0 lead.

Canada struck back in the second period with a pair of goals from Zac Boychuk. The first tally came 52 seconds into the frame when he snuck a shot under Unice’s right arm. Boychuk then gave Canada a 2-1 lead when he scored off a faceoff play at 4:35.

Team USA replied at the 9:55 mark when Kevin Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, N.Y.) blasted a slap shot from the point on the power play that found its way through traffic to knot the game at 2-2. Kyle Turris gave the Canadians a 3-2 advantage 1:19 later when he walked into the U.S. zone and beat Unice glove side.

In the final period, vanRiemsdyk evened the game at 3-3 on a power-play goal at the 1:36 mark. After a Cade Fairchild (Duluth, Minn.) shot from the point was blocked by a Canadian defenseman, vanRiemsdyk picked up the rebound and buried it past Cann to close out the third-period scoring.

In the 10-minute extra session, the United States carried the play, outshooting Canada by a 5-2 margin. vanRiemsdyk and Matt Rust (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) had the best chances for Team USA, but were unable to end the game.  Unice calmly handled the two Canadian chances to keep the game knotted at 3-3.

In the three-man shootout, Unice forced Turris to shoot wide on the first Canadian attempt. After Ryan Hayes (Syracuse, N.Y.) missed the net on Team USA’s first attempt, Unice came up big again as he sprawled across the ice to make a save on Steve Stamkos. With the shootout still scoreless, vanRiemsdyk beat Cann on a shot that went between the goalkeeper’s legs to give the United States a 1-0 advantage. On Canada’s final attempt, Unice stayed with Boychuk and made the save to win the game for Team USA.

NOTES: Shattenkirk earned Best Player of the Game Honors for Team USA … With the win, the United States advances to its fourth consecutive gold-medal game at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship … Russia defeated Sweden this afternoon, 5-4, on a goal with one second left in the contest … Team USA lost to Russia, 5-3, in its opening game of the tournament.

SCORING SUMMARY

Scoring By Period
USA 1-1-1-0-1 -- 4
CAN 0-3-0-0-0 –- 3

First Period – Scoring: 1, USA, Saponari (O’Brien, Shattenkirk), 19:45. Penalties – USA, Cross (holding), 5:35; CAN, Arniel (delay of game), 10:20; CAN, Gillies (charging), 16:12; USA, Cole (interference), 19:56.

Second Period – Scoring: 2, CAN, Boychuk (Doughty), 0:52 (pp); 3, CAN, Boychuk (Stamkos), 4:35; 4, USA, Shattenkirk (Schroeder, vanRiemsdyk), 9:55 (pp); 5, CAN, Turis (Esposito), 11:14. Penalties – CAN, Schenn (tripping), 8:31; CAN, Negrin (hooking), 13:05.

Third Period – Scoring: 6, USA, vanRiemsdyk (Fairchild, Schroeder), 1:36 (pp).  Penalties – USA, J. Hayes (hooking), 11:16.

Overtime – Scoring: No Scoring. Penalties – No Penalties.

Shootout - USA, vanRiemsdyk. 

Shots By Period 1   2   3   OT TOTAL
USA             14  19  6   5  44  
CAN             6   10  13  2  31

Goaltending (SH-SV) 1     2     3     OT   TOTAL
USA, Unice (70:00)  6-6   10-7  13-13 2-2  31-29
CAN, Cann (70:00)   14-13 19-18 6-5   5-5  44-41

Power Play: USA 2-5; CAN 1-3

Penalties: USA 3-6; CAN 5-10

Attendance: 1,505

Officials:  Patrik Sjoberg (SWE); Linesmen- Antti Orelema (FIN), Jussi Terho (FIN)

2007 U.S. National Under-18 Team Schedule 
April 12-22 • Tampere & Rauma, Finland

Date      Opponent           Location  Time(EDT)/Result
April 7   Switzerland*       Sakyla          L, 4-3
April 8   Finland*           Rauma           T, 4-4
April 12  Russia             Rauma           L, 5-3
April 13  Germany            Rauma           W, 9-1
April 15  Canada             Rauma           L, 3-2 (SO)
April 17  Latvia             Rauma           W, 8-0
April 20  Canada             Tampere         W, 4-3 (SO) 
April 22  Gold-Medal Game    Tampere        11:00 a.m.

*Exhibition Game