BRECLAV, Czech Republic — The U.S. Under-18 Select Team fell to the Czech Republic, 2-1, here today in an exhibition matchup prior to the start of the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in Breclav, Czech Republic.
"I'm disappointed we lost, but we learned a lot as a team,” said Derek Plante (Cloquet, Minn.), head coach of the 2015 U.S. Under-18 Select Team. “We got the opportunity to work on special teams, especially our penalty kill. We'll be better when the tournament starts as a result of tonight's game.”
The Czech Republic opened the scoring with 1:31 to play in the first period when Daniel Kurovsky got his stick on a rebound in front of the U.S. net.
After a scoreless middle frame, Timmy Gettinger (North Olmsted, Ohio) redirected a shot by Henry Crone (Cedar Hill, Texas) from the point to even the score for the U.S. at 7:33 in the third frame.
With 6:10 remaining in the game, Petr Kodytek sealed the game-winning goal for the Czech Republic with a power-play marker.
Team USA will take on Finland at 8 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 10 for the first U.S. matchup of the tournament. The remainder of Team USA’s games will be played in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Notes: The U.S. is competing in Group B along with Slovakia, Finland and Russia … The U.S. finished third at last year’s tournament … For tournament statistics, click here.