U.S. Men’s National Team Tops Germany, 6-3, in Pre-Tournament Action

By USA Hockey, 05/09/23, 5:00PM EDT

U.S. to open play in IIHF Men’s Worlds Friday against Finland

MUNICH, Germany – Drew O’Connor (Chatham, N.J.) tallied two goals, including the game-winner, and one assist and Casey DeSmith (Rochester, N.H.) and Cal Petersen (Waterloo, Iowa) combined to make 24 saves as the U.S. Men’s National Team skated to a 6-3 win over Germany in its lone pre-tournament game ahead of the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship before a raucous crowd here at Olympia Eishalle.

“I liked the progress we made during the course of the game,” said David Quinn, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “It was a great environment tonight against a very good German team and it’s a game that sets us up well for the start of the world championship.”

Ronnie Attard (White Lake, Mich.) got the U.S. out to a 1-0 lead at 13:13 of the opening stanza after O’Connor picked up the puck along the boards, carried it into the zone and fed it to a trailing Attard, who snapped it past German goaltender Mathias Niederberger. Rocco Grimaldi (Rossmoor, Calif.) also picked up an assist on the play.

O’Connor made it 2-0 just under two minutes later with a quick wrister from the left dot off a feed from Carter Mazur (Jackson, Mich.). Conor Garland (Scituate, Mass.) tallied an assist as well.

Garland scored the only goal of the middle stanza at 12:19, firing the puck top shelf after Mazur carried it down the left wing off the rush.

Dominik Kahun got the Germans on the board just shy of the halfway mark of the final frame with a patient shot off the rush from the left circle, then added a second on the doorstep with 5:25 to play.

O’Connor answered 17 seconds later to give the U.S. a 4-2 lead with a one-timer from his knees on the doorstep off a feed from Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.), who beat German forward Kastner Maximilian in a race for the loose puck.

GAME PHOTOS

With 3:44 left to play, Leon Hüttl brought Germany back within one with a wrister from the point.

Grimaldi put the U.S. back in front by two with a beautiful behind-the-back goal from the low slot just over a minute later, and Matt Coronato (Greenlawn, N.Y.), who outskated two Germans to gain possession, picked up an assist. An empty net goal from Sammy Walker (Edina, Minn.) accounted for the 6-3 final.

DeSmith stopped all 19 shots he faced in the opening 32:19, while Petersen finished the contest and had five saves.

O’Connor was named the U.S Player of the Game.

The U.S. opens preliminary round play in the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Tampere, Finland, on Friday (May 12) against host Finland with opening faceoff set for 4:20 p.m. local time/9:20 a.m. ET. All Team USA contests can be seen live on NHL Network.

NOTES: The U.S. was 0-2 on the power play, while Germany was 0-1 … The U.S. outshot Germany by a 38-27 count … The teams played a three-on-three overtime period which was ended on Sean Farrell’s goal. A five-player shootout followed with goals by Lane Hutson, T.J. Tynan, Conor Garland and Sammy Walker all converting for the U.S.