RAUMA, Finland -- Colin Wilson (Grennwich, Conn.) and Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) tallied two goals apiece as the U.S. National Under-18 Team topped Slovakia by a 7-2 score tonight at the Tampere Hakameta in the playoff round at the 2007 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship.

With the victory, Team USA advances to the semifinal round where it will face Canada tomorrow at 11:30 am EDT.

“We had our best effort of the tournament tonight,” said Ron Rolston, head coach of Team USA. “To be successful in the remainder of the event we need to continue to improve our overall game. We have a tough road in front of us, but playing our game will give us the chance to win.”

Patrick White (Grand Rapids, Minn.) opened the scoring for Team USA 5:25 into the contest when he took a Jim O’Brien (Maplewood, Minn.) feed and beat Slovakian netminder Zdenko Kotvan above his left shoulder. Cole gave the U.S. a 2-0 advantage 1:42 later when he buried the rebound of a Wilson blast. Slovakia got on the scoreboard with :52 remaining in the period when Adam Bezak knocked a loose puck past U.S. netminder Josh Unice (Toledo, Ohio) to make it a 2-1 game.

Jordan Schroeder (Lakeville, Minn.) ignited Team USA’s three-goal second period with a power-play tally 9:25 into the frame. Schroeder gathered in a loose puck to the right of the Slovak net and flipped it past Kotvan to give the United States a 3-1 advantage. O’Brien notched his third goal of the tournament 12 seconds later off a feed from White to make it a 4-1 contest. Following O’Brien’s goal, Slovakia replaced Kotvan with netminder Jaroslav Janus.

Bezak tallied his second goal of the night for Slovakia at the 14:06 mark of the middle frame when his snap shot beat Unice over the right shoulder to cut the U.S. lead to 4-2. Wilson closed out the second period scoring with a power-play tally at 16:47 to give Team USA a three-goal cushion.

Wilson’s second power-play goal of the game made it a 6-2 contest at the 3:03 mark of the final period. Cole then capped off the scoring when he added his second goal of the night at 9:48.  After he circled with the puck in the neutral zone, Cole skated in untouched and beat Janus glove side with a snap shot to account for the 7-2 final score.

Unice stopped 19-of-21 shots in goal for Team USA to earn his third victory of the tournament. Team USA went 3-for-7 on the power play, while Slovakia was scoreless in two attempts with the man advantage.

NOTES: Wilson earned Best Player of the Game Honors for Team USA … Team USA is now 4-2-0 versus Slovakia at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship … Unice is leading the tournament with a .944 save percentage … Cole (4-1) and Cade Fairchild (Duluth, Minn.) (1-4) are tied for the tournament lead in points by defensemen with five apiece …  The winner of tomorrow night’s United States/Canada match-up will move on to face the victor of tomorrow’s Russia/Sweden contest. The gold medal game is set for Sunday (April 22) at 11 a.m. EDT.

SCORING SUMMARY

Scoring By Period
USA 2-3-2 -- 7
SVK 1-1-0 –- 2

First Period – Scoring: 1, USA, White (O’Brien, Saponari), 5:25; 2, USA, Cole (Wilson, Schroeder), 7:07; 3, SVK, Bezak (Kytnar, Baca), 19:08; SVK, Bezak (Kytner, Baca), 19:08. Penalties – USA, O’Brien (holding), 9:05; USA, White (boarding), 19:25.

Second Period – Scoring: 4, USA, Schroeder (Wilson, Fairchild), 9:25 (pp); 5, USA, O’Brien (White), 9:47; 6, SVK, Bezak (Lapsansky), 14:06. 7, USA, Wilson (Fairchild, vanRiemsdyk), 16:47 (pp). Penalties – SVK, Hruska (boarding), 9:07; SVK, Novajovsky (hooking), 16:22; SVK, Hruska (interference), 18:27.

Third Period – Scoring: 8, USA, Wilson (vanRiemsdyk, Fairchild), 3:03 (pp); 9, USA, Cole (White, Ruth), 9:48. Penalties – SVK, Baca (hitting to the head), 1:12; SVK, Baca (misconduct), 1:12; SVK, Panik (hooking), 7:51; SVK, Kytner (hooking), 9:34; SVK, Baca (high sticking), 18:00.

Shots By Period          1      2      3      TOTAL
USA                     14     18     19       51  
SVK                     12      8      1       21

Goaltending (SH-SV)      1      2      3      TOTAL
USA, Unice(60:00)      12-11   8-7    1-1     21-19
SVK, Kotvan(29:47)     14-12   8-6    x-x     22-18
SVK, Janus (30:13)      x-x   10-9   19-17    29-26

Power Play: USA 3-7; SVK 0-2

Penalties: USA 2-4; SVK 8-24

Attendance: 1,204

Officials: Aleksi Rantala (FIN); Linesmen- Antti Orelema (FIN), Jussi Terho (FIN)

2007 U.S. National Under-18 Team Schedule 
April 12-22 • Tampere & Rauma, Finland

Date      Opponent           Location  Time(EDT)/Result
April 7   Switzerland*       Sakyla          L, 4-3
April 8   Finland*           Rauma           T, 4-4
April 12  Russia             Rauma           L, 5-3
April 13  Germany            Rauma           W, 9-1
April 15  Canada             Rauma           L, 3-2 (SO)
April 17  Latvia             Rauma           W, 8-0
April 20  Canada             Tampere       11:30 a.m.
April 22  Bronze-Medal Game  Tampere        7:00 a.m.
April 22  Gold-Medal Game    Tampere        11:00 a.m.

*Exhibition Game