| Nick Schmaltz and Connor Hurley Tally Four Points Apiece |
| YARMOUTH, Nova Scotia – Nick Schmaltz (Verona, Wis.) tallied two goals and two assists andConnor Hurley (Eagan, Minn.) posted a goal and three assists to help the U.S. Junior Select Team beat Russia, 8-3, tonight in its World Junior A Challenge opener at Yarmouth Mariners Centre.
“We put a lot of emphasis on special teams and it paid off tonight,” said Derek Lalonde, head coach of the U.S. Junior Select Team. “We scored very early on the power play and then survived the first period thanks to our penalty killing. Our depth is one of our strengths and we needed it with so much special teams play tonight. We’re looking forward to playing Canada East tomorrow on its home soil.” Karson Kuhlman (Cloquet, Minn.) staked Team USA to a 1-0 lead on a power play just 1:31 into the game. Hurley fired a shot on goal that Kuhlman deflected past goaltender Sergei Korobov. In the back half of the first period, the U.S. penalty killers maintained the narrow lead by negating 6:46of consecutive power-play time for Russia. Team USA took control of the game in the second period, out-scoring Russia 5-1, including a four-goal spree to start the frame. Zeb Knutson (Sioux Falls, S.D.) tallied on a deflection 30 seconds into the second period. Then over a seven-minute span, Schmaltz scored twice on the man-advantage and in between Hurley potted an even-strength goal. Russia found the scoresheet at 17:23, but Knutson responded at 19:04 with his second goal of the night to make it 6-1 in favor of Team USA after 40 minutes. Both the U.S. and Russia scored twice in the third period. Russia tallied at 1:41 before Team USA’sKyle Connor (Shelby Twp., Mich.) and Shane Eiserman (West Newbury, Mass.) scored back-to-back at 9:28 and 14:04, respectively. Russia notched its final goal in the last minute of play. Goaltender Cal Petersen (Waterloo, Iowa) had 22 stops in the victory. Russia’s Korobov saved 15 of 18 shots in 23:37, while his backup, Maxim Tretiak, made 16 saves on 21 shots. |
