Team USA falls to Canada East, 4-1, to open World Junior A Challenge

By USA Hockey, 12/07/25, 6:00PM EST

U.S. continues tournament tomorrow (Dec. 8) against Sweden at 3 p.m. ET

TROIS-RIVIÈRES, Quebec – Despite outshooting Canada East, 53-29, the U.S. Junior Select Team dropped a 4-1 decision in its opening contest of the 2025 World Junior A Challenge here today at Colisée Vidéotron.

Canada East broke the scoreless tie at 18:37 of the first, as Peter Legostaev tapped in a backdoor feed.

U.S. netminder Caleb Heil (Victoria, Minn./Madison Capitols) made a sequence of crucial stops with 14:32 left in the second, as he denied Canada East on multiple chances near his crease.

Carter Sanderson (Pierre, S.D./Muskegon Lumberjacks) nearly tied the contest at 10:11 of the middle frame, blasting a one-timer on goal following a cross-ice feed from Ashton Schultz (Excelsior, Minn./Chicago Steel), but his shot was stopped by Canadian netminder Kale Osipenko.

Heil came up large for the U.S. at 15:20, as he denied a short-handed breakaway opportunity from Will Hughes. He finished the contest with 25 saves.

GAME PHOTOS

Colin Frank (Ladera Ranch, Calif./Dubuque Fighting Saints) found an equalizer on the power play 30 seconds later, rifling a shot past Osipenko’s glove on a breakaway generated by a stretch pass from Evan Jardine (Bloomfield, Mich./Youngstown Phantoms). The game entered the third tied as Team USA outshot Canada East, 23-6, in the second stanza.

Alex Hendry gave Canada East the lead 5:39 into the third on a shot from the point that changed direction in front of Heil and found the back of the net.

Max Anderson scored an empty-net goal with 53 seconds remaining, and Tate Vader added a tally to account for the 4-1 final.

The U.S. Junior Select Team continues the 2025 World Junior A Challenge against Sweden tomorrow (Dec. 8) at 3 p.m ET. The game can be streamed on HNLive.ca.

NOTES: Ashton Schultz was named U.S. Player of the Game … Team USA went 1-7 on the power play while Canada East went 0-2.