NAHL U.S. National Team

Another step closer

Published on March 24, 2004 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


Ann Arbor, MI –The U.S. Under-17 Team made a strong claim for the fourth and final playoff position in the NAHL North Division as it blew away the Toledo IceDiggers, 5-1, on Wednesday (March 24) at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. With their regular season now over, the U-17's hold a two-point advantage over the Youngstown PHANTOMS, which has two games left to play this weekend on the road against the Cleveland Barons.

The US Team generated all the offense it would need during a 2:18 span late in the first period when it notched three goals. The U-17's scored two more times for good measure during the second period. In total, 13 players tallied at least one point. Jason Lawrence (Saugus, Mass.) scored the game-winning tally and was also the only player with multiple points (1-1-2). In net, Jeff Frazee (Burnsville, Minn.) made 24 saves and was just 21 seconds away from a shutout when Toledo finally solved him late in the third period.

Matt Kaiser (Bloomington, Minn.) opened the scoring at 15:03 of the first period after David Inman (San Diego, Calif.) kept a bouncing puck in the zone along the boards and found him (Kaiser) open backdoor for a tip in. Just 46 seconds later, Lawrence made it 2-0 off a feed from behind the net courtesy of Dan Fardig (Ann Arbor, Mich.). Chris Cahill upped the score to 3-0 when he snapped a shot five-hole coming down the right wing at 17:21.

The US boys showed no signs of letting up during the second period and continued to attack the Toledo defense. Nick Foligno (Hummelstown, PA) cashed in on an easy rebound opportunity at 11:55 to extend the lead to 4-0. With 2:49 remaining in the middle frame Ryan Stoa (Bloomington, Minn.) blasted a shot from the top of the right circle past the Toledo netminder.

Check out the U.S. National Team Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



North American Hockey League Stories from March 24, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central