PIESTANY, Slovakia -- The U.S. Under-18 Select Team lost to Canada, 4-0, in the championship game at the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament today.
"Canada was the better team tonight," said head coach Bob Corkum. "They came out with more energy than we did and we just didn't get it done. The guys gave it everything they had, but give credit to Canada. Everybody worked incredibly hard and bought into the systems this week. We overcame a ton of adversity in every game, but we just ran out of gas."

Canada was able to build a 2-0 lead after two periods on goals at 3:58 of the first and 11:23 of the second.

The Canadians increased their lead to 4-0 late in the final stanza after a power-play goal at 12:29 and an even-strength tally two minutes later.

U.S. goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (Parma, Ohio) made 26 stops in the contest. Forward Nick Schmaltz (Verona, Wis.) finished the tournament with five goals and eight points to lead all Americans in scoring.

The runner-up performance marks the eighth time that Team USA has earned second-place honors in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

NOTES:Austin Poganski (St. Cloud, Minn.) was named U.S. Player of the Game ... Follow the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament on Twitter by following @USAHockeyScores and using #IvanHlinka ... The 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament features teams from Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States ... Team USA has finished in the top three of the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament 10 times since the tournament's inception in 1991, including a first-place finish in 2003. The U.S. has finished second eight times (1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2013) and third twice (1991, 1995) ... Team USA finished in seventh place last year ... The 22 players on the U.S. roster represent 10 different states. Minnesota leads the way with eight representatives, while Michigan has four and both Illinois and Colorado have two ... Bob Corkum (Salisbury, Mass.) serves as head coach and John Gruden (Virginia, Minn.), assistant coach with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, Matt Herr (Hackensack, N.J.) a regional manager of USA Hockey's American Development Model, and Derek Plante (Cloquet, Minn.), assistant coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth, serve as assistant coaches.

Game Summary

Scoring By Period 1 2 3 Total
USA    0    0    0    0
CAN    1    1    2    4

First Period -- Scoring: 1, CAN, Dal Colle (Watson), 3:58. Penalties: CAN, Fabbri (slashing), 4:28; USA, Iverson (tripping), 10:04; CAN, Fabbri (slashing), 17:54.

Second Period -- Scoring: 2, CAN, Hawryluk (Hicketts), 11:23. Penalties: None.

Third Period -- Scoring: 3, CAN, Ekblad (Point, Watson), 12:29 (pp); 4, CAN,
Lemieux (Point, Watson), 14:17. Penalties: CAN, Virtanen (hooking), 4:53; USA, Haydon (boarding), 12:03.

Shots By Period 1 2 3 Total
USA    6       7     6    19
CAN    12    10    8    30

Goaltenders (SV/SH) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Nedeljkovic 60:00    11/12   9/10   6/8   26/30
CAN, Billia 60:00    6/6    7/7    6/6    19/19

Power Play: USA, 0-3; CAN, 1-2
Penalties: USA, 1-2; CAN, 3-6