U.S. Drops Third-Place Game to Sweden

EDMONTON, Alberta – Matthew Lansing (Tonawanda, N.Y.) scored twice as the U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team fell 6-3 to Sweden in the third-place game of the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup at Rogers Place.

“Our guys pushed hard, but Sweden was the better team today,” said Garrett Raboin (Detroit Lakes, Minn.), head coach of the 2024 U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team. “We’re certainly disappointed with the result, but appreciate our guys work ethic and sacrifice through the tournament.”

Lansing opened the scoring 1:08 into the contest when he gathered a rebound off of a Carter Murphy (Conroe, Texas) slap shot from the point, and capitalized from the bottom of the left circle.

Melvin Novotny knotted the game up at one apiece for Sweden with 8:07 remaining in the first when he scored from just outside the crease off a feed from Eric Nilson.

GAME PHOTOS

With 3:45 to play in the opening period, Malte Vass launched a shot from the blue line that was tipped in the slot by Jakob Ihs Wozniak, bouncing past U.S. goaltender Ryan Cameron (Berwyn, Pa.) to give Sweden a 2-1 lead.

Sweden added to the tally 1:44 into the second period when Nilson capitalized after winning the race to the puck off a dump-in from Eddie Genborg.

Team USA answered at the 4:51 mark when Lansing carried the puck into the offensive zone and dangled past three Swedish players before finishing with a back hand to make it a 3-2 game.

Nilson put Sweden up 4-2 at 6:35 in the final stanza, going bar-down on a one-timer from the slot for his second tally of the contest.

With 11:07 to play, Novotny picked up his second tally to extend the Sweden lead to 5-2. Nilson scored an empty net goal with just over a minute to play to complete a hat trick.

Jesse Orlowsky (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added a goal with eight seconds remaining to account for the 6-3 final.

Cameron and Charles Menard (Fairbanks, Alaska) combined for 24 saves in goal for the U.S.

NOTES: Team USA outshot Sweden 37-30 … Team USA was 0-5 on the power play, while Sweden was 0-2 … Matthew Lansing was named U.S. Player of the Game