Team USA put their best foot forward Thursday against the defending World Junior Champions and defeated Sweden 10-2 at the US National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid.
Jacob Trouba (NTDP - WPG) started things off early in the first with a blast from the point on the power play. It was waived off due to goalie interference, but you could see the confidence level creep up a notch or two. It wasn't long after that Shayne Gostisbehere (Union - PHL), whose name I no longer have to double check for spelling, scored in similar fashion from the opposite point to officially give Team USA a 1-0 lead.
Sweden's Mika Zibanejad capitalized on a 5-on-3 when he scooped up a rebound and flipped it backdoor to tie the game at 1. Later in the period and again on the power play, John Gaudreau (BC - CGY) took the puck streaking down the wing and popped a wrister past Swedish goaltender Niklas Lundstrom as their go-to-guy Oscar Dansk was scratched due to a knee injury.
Less than a minute into the second period, Vince Trocheck (Saginaw - FLA) whacked at the puck three or four times in the crease before it finally found a way across the goal line to give USA a 3-1 lead. Seconds later, Alex Galchenyuk (Sarnia - MTL) pulled a beautiful move to get the puck on net where it got lost under the goalies pads and trickled in for a 4-1 lead. Creating a bigger hole for Sweden to climb out of, Gostisbehere notched his second power play goal of the game with a shot from the low circle to make it 5-1.
Nic Kerdiles (NTDP - ANA) made it 6-1 as he followed the play to the net and made it 6-1. Sweden hadn't mailed it in at this point though. They continued to pepper John Gibson (Kitchener - ANA) with shots and even hit the post a few times, but Gibson was as on his game as I've ever seen him be. There was one glove save on William Karlsson in that period that had everyone watching staring in amazement at the thievery they just witnessed.
The offensive onslaught continued for the Americans as Tyler Biggs (Miami - TOR) took a great pass from Gaudreau and flipped a backhander past Lundstrom to make it 7-1. To close the scoring in the second period, JT Miller (Plymouth - NYR) posted himself in front of the crease on the power play and jammed one in for the 8-1 lead.
Early in the third, Sweden got one back when Joachim Nermark took advantage of a mis-step by Gibson that left him sprawled on the ice and slipped one across the goal line to pull the Tre Kronor within six. Trouba made it 9-2 with another laser from the point and Sean Kuraly (Indiana - SJS) kept his scoring streak alive with only seconds to spare in the final minute of play with a wrister off the rush to make it a 10-2 final.
To say that was unexpected would be a huge understatement, but it was powered by a will to win. Quite simply, USA just wanted it more and it showed as every line and defensive pairing gave it everything they had on every single shift. This was of course, the topic of conversation in the video blog from Day 6…
Some players of note were of course Gibson who played the entire 60 minutes and was just on point the entire game. He didn't show much confidence in Calgary last year, but if the John Gibson we saw last night is the one going to Ufa the US can rest easy knowing their goaltending is solid.
I was also impressed with Glachenyuk who finally seemed to connect the dots and make his presence known throughout the entire game and not just in spurts like he had earlier in the week. He seemed to make an impact in one way or another every time he hit the ice and that's what you expect from the third overall selection in the NHL draft.
Even without his two power play goals, Gostisbehere had a stellar game. He's a great skater with a heck of a shot. There was a time in the third period when he unleashed his slapshot from the circle near the face-off dot and it was so hard you just knew Lundstrom was thankful he was wearing the chest protector of all chest protectors (I swear they make them different in Sweden). He's making quite the impression on the powers that be at USA Hockey.
Other guys that I've mentioned before that had a great showing against Sweden were Trouba, Miller, Kerdiles and Kuraly. In all, an impressive game for the red, white and blue. Today is an off day for Team USA with Finland and Sweden facing off this afternoon. USA is back in action tomorrow at 1pm against Finland in the last game of the camp.
Since the guys have been together for about a week now, I decided to see just how well they knew each other with a round of Fact or Fiction....check it out!
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While it's important for these guys to develop chemistry and learn their tendencies on the ice, we also thought it was important that they know how to spell each others' names so we decided to lighten the mood and play the name game. Here's what happened…..
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Julie
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