MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) recorded a hat trick and Griffin LaMarre (Haverhill, Mass.) picked up a shutout as the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team beat Korea 9-0 in its second preliminary round game of the 2023 World Para Ice Hockey Championship at the Moose Jaw Events Centre in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
With the win, the U.S. moves to 2-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) on the tournament and 13-2-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) on the season.
“We set the tone with our first period performance,” said David Hoff (Bottineau, N.D.), head coach of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team, “I thought it was a really well-rounded effort from all our lines”.
Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) opened the scoring just 1:01 into the contest, cutting across the slot and firing a wrist shot far-side for his second goal of the tournament, with Malik Jones (Aurora, Colo.) picking up an assist. Evan Nichols (Haymarket, Va.) gave the U.S. a two-goallead at the 5:31 mark with an assist from Chris Douglas (St. Cloud, Fla.). Just over a minute later Jones picked up his second goal of the tournament, dangling past defenders before rifling a shot top shelf past the netminder.
With 3:49 remaining in the opening frame, Travis Dodson (Deming, N.M.) recorded up his team-leading fourth goal of the tournament on the doorstep with assists from David Eustace (Stoneham, Mass.) and Kevin McKee (Davenport, Iowa). Captain Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) scored up his first goal of the tournament with just over a minute remaining in the period and the U.S. took a 5-0 lead into the break.
Game Photos
Eustace gave the U.S. a six-goal lead 2:26 into the second, and Farmer picked up his second goal of the game at the 4:30 mark, burying a rebound off a shot from Jones. Farmer completed a hat trick at 6:58 with a rocket into the top corner to give the U.S. an 8-0 lead. Douglas then scored his first of the tournament with a wrister from the point to extend Team USA’s lead to 9-0 after two periods.
The third period was scoreless for both sides as LaMarre picked up a shutout in his World Para Ice Hockey Championship debut.
NOTES: Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) was named the U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. outshot Korea 32-7 … The U.S. was 0-3 on the power play, while Korea was 0-2 … Brandon Adam (Silverthorne, Colo.) made his U.S. National Sled Hockey Team debut.
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