Josh Groll (San Diego, Calif.) and Cole McWard (Fenton, Mo.) each recorded a goal and two assists as the United States Under-17 Men’s Select Team beat Slovakia, 7-1, in the second game of the 2017 Five Nations Tournament.
"I was proud of the boys." said U.S. head coach Pat Ferschweiler (Rochester, Minn.). "They came together as a group through adversity rather than going apart. We had a great third period and were able to secure the win."
Jake Hale (Minneapolis, Minn.) opened the scoring 5:11 into the first stanza with his third goal of the tournament, assisted by Groll and McWard.
Solvakia netted the equalizer 1:18 into the second frame off a deflected wrist shot, but John Farinacci (Chatham, N.J.) banged home a rebound on the power play 9:21 into the period to put Team USA up 2-1.
Twenty seconds into the third period, Grant Silianoff (Edina, Minn.) slipped through a Slovakian defender to tuck in a backhanded goal. A mere 25 seconds later, Arthur Kaliyev (Staten Island, N.Y.) netted a rebound off a Dylan Wendt (Grand Haven, Mich.) shot to give the U.S. a 4-1 advantage. Next, after killing a 5-on-3 power play, McWard buried a wrist shot with 9:45 remaining to make it 5-1. Four minutes later, Groll stuffed home a wraparound goal, his third of the tournament. Ryan Johnson (Irvine, Calif.) closed the scoring for Team USA by firing a puck short-side over the blocker of the Slovakian netminder to make the final score 7-1.
U.S. goaltender Ethan Haider (Maple Grove, Minn.) stopped 13 of 14 Slovakian shots in the victory.
The U.S. (2-0) will meet Germany tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time / 9 a.m. Eastern Time in the teams’ third game of tournament play. That game will be played in Ostrava, Czech Republic, and will be live streamed here.
Follow the U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Team every step of the way at TeamUSA.USAHockey.com.
Notes: The U.S. outshot Slovakia 49-14… Robert Mastrosimone (East Islip, N.Y.) was named the U.S. Player of the Game.
Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
21 Silianoff | 14 Farinacci | 17 Mastrosimone |
19 Kaliyev | 20 Nodler | 22 Wendt |
10 Christy | 15 Griffin | 18 Svejkovsky |
11 Bertrand | 16 Groll | 12 Hale |
Left Defense | Right Defense | Goaltender |
3 Johnson | 2 Boltmann | 30 Haider |
4 Koster | 7 Miller | 1 Chauvette |
6 Webber | 5 McWard |
Date | Opponent | TIme (Local/ET)/Result | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Mon., Aug. 21 | HC Vitkovice U18 (ex.) | W, 6-2 | Ostrava, Czech Republic |
Thurs., Aug. 24 | Switzerland | W, 8-1 | Ostrava, Czech Republic |
Fri., Aug. 25 | Slovakia | W, 7-1 | Ostrava, Czech Republic |
Sat., Aug. 26 | Germany | W, 6-0 | Ostrava, Czech Republic |
Sun., Aug. 27 | Czech Republic | W, 5-3 | Ostrava, Czech Republic |