U.S. Topples Italy 2-0 in IPH Cup Preliminary Round

By USA Hockey, 10/10/24, 7:15AM EDT

Team USA Advances to Semifinals on Saturday (Oct. 12) as Top Seed

OSTRAVA, Czechia – Taggart VanderMolen (Fruitport, Mich.) recorded a shutout in his first career start, while Josh Misiewicz (La Grange, Ill.) collected two assists, including his 100th career point , to help the U.S. National Sled Team to a 2-0 victory over Italy in its third and final preliminary round game of the 2024 IPH Cup at Ostravar Arena.

With the win, the U.S. wraps up preliminary round play as the top seed with a 3-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record. The semifinals will be played Saturday (Oct. 12), with Team USA’s game time and opponent to be determined. A live stream can be found here.

“It was a tough game for us, we did a lot of good things in terms of puck possession, but we weren’t able to get into scoring areas consistently,” said David Hoff (Bottineau, N.D.), head coach of the U.S. National Sled Team. “I thought VanderMolen played well for us in net, and he made some crucial saves to make up for our lack of sharpness.”

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead 11:05 into the contest when Kevin McKee (Davenport, Iowa) flipped the puck over a defender to Misiewicz at the top of the crease, who gathered the bouncing puck and tucked it home.

GAME PHOTOS

Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) doubled Team USA’s lead with a power play tally at the 9:14 mark of the second when he carried the puck from below the circles into the high slot and capitalized on a wrist shot. Misiewicz and Brody Roybal (Northlake, Ill.) picked up helpers on the play.

Both sides were scoreless in the final frame, and the U.S. held strong defensively to secure the 2-0 win.

VanderMolen stopped all 10 shots he faced in his U.S. National Sled Team debut.

NOTES: The U.S. outshot Italy 25-10 … Team USA was 1-5 on the power play, while Italy was 0-4 … Taggart VanderMolen was named U.S. Player of the Game.