skip navigation

U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team Tops Finland, 4-2, in Final Tune-Up Prior to 2011 IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championship

By Men's World Championships, 04/11/11, 1:30PM MDT

Share

DRESDEN, Germany – Rocco Grimaldi (Rossmoor, Calif.) scored twice, including the game-winning goal, and Ryan Haggerty (Stamford, Conn.) recorded two points (1-1), as the U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team topped Finland, 4-2, here tonight in its final tune-up prior to the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Men's Under-18 Championship, which runs from April 14-24, in Crimmitschau and Dresden, Germany.

Grimaldi gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead 8:20 into the first period, when he skated from the corner and fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the face-off circle that beat Finland netminder Samu Perhonen on the short side. Haggerty then gave Team USA a 2-0 edge with just 1:13 remaining in the period.

Midway through the second period, Finland cut the U.S. lead in half, but Team USA responded with a power-play goal at the 16:02 mark. J.T. Miller (East Palestine, Ohio) passed the puck off the sideboards to Grimaldi, who deked the goaltender and fired a shot into the top of the net to put the U.S. up 3-1 heading into the final frame.

After sending an extra attacker to the ice, Finland scored with just 30 seconds remaining in the regulation, but Cole Bardreau (Fairport, N.Y.) scored an empty-net goal to seal Team USA's 4-2 victory.

John Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made 16 saves for the U.S., while Perhoven stopped 22 shots in the loss for Finland.

The U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team opens tournament play on Thursday (April 14) against Switzerland at 7:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EDT), at Crimmitschau Arena. The game will be streamed live on FASTHockey.com.

NOTES: The U.S. enters the tournament having captured a record seven consecutive medals, including back-to-back gold medals in 2005-06 and 2009-10, two silver medals (2004, 2007) and one bronze medal (2008). Team USA’s five gold medals are the most of any country in IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship history since the inception of the tournament in 1999. Team USA earned its first gold medal in 2002 ... For live scoring updates, follow @USAHockeyScores and#U18MWC on Twitter ... Beginning with the preliminary round, all of the U.S. games will be streamed live on USAHockey.FASTHockey.com...  For additional coverage, visit USA Hockey's National Team Development Program Facebook page... The U.S. National Under-17 and Under-18 Teams train with The Hockey IntelliGym, a revolutionary new software program released on October 1, 2010 that trains hockey sense. To learn more, visit USAHockeyIntelliGym.com.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 2 - 1 - 1 - 4
FIN 0 - 1 - 1 - 2

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Grimaldi (Boucher), 8:20; 2, USA, Haggerty (Reid, Jones), 18:47. Penalties: USA, Russo (cross-checking), 0:22; USA, Paliotta (roughing), 7:39; FIN, Pokka (holding-the-stick), 8:05; FIN, Wilenius (slashing), 14:50.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, FIN, Salomaki, (Auvinen), 12:34, (pp); 4, USA, Grimaldi (Miller, Haggerty), 16:02, (pp). Penalties: USA, Samuelsson (roughing), 2:14; USA, Trouba (tripping), 9:54; USA, Grimaldi (tripping), 12:15; FIN, Armia (cross-checking), 14:39; FIN, Henritius (hooking), 19:22.

Third Period - Scoring: 5, FIN, Granlund (Jarvelainen, Liedes), 19:30, (ea); 6, USA, Bardreau (Larraza, Paliotta), 19:59, (en). Penalties: USA, Trouba (hooking), 2:09; FIN, Salomaki (slashing), 4:05; USA, Reid (roughing), 12:31; FIN, Ristolainen (roughing), 12:31; FIN, Auvinen (roughing), 13:59; FIN, Salomaki (roughing), 13:59; USA, Grimaldi (roughing), 13:59; USA, Samuelsson (elbowing), 15:18; USA, Jones (delay-of-game), 17:57.

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total
USA 11 9 6 26
FIN 3 8 7 18
         
Goaltenders (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Gibson, 30:00 3-3 4-4 0-0 7-7
USA, McNeely, 30:00 0-0 4-3 7-6 11-9
FIN, Perhonen, 59:08 11-9 9-8 5-4 25-22

Power Play: USA 1-6; FIN 2-8
Penalties: USA 10-20; FIN 8-16