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Sweden Defeats U.S. National Under-18 Team, 5-3

November 9, 2007 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release

HUTTWIL, Switzerland - Vinny Saponari (Powder Springs, Ga.) and David Warsofsky (Marshfield, Mass.) each chipped in a goal and an assist, but Sweden skated past the U.S. National Under-18 Team by a score of 5-3 Friday afternoon in the opening day of the 2007 Four Nations Tournament.

"I thought we were mentally inconsistent today," said John Hynes, head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team. "We have some areas to work on and our task is to come back a mentally stronger team tomorrow."

Sweden jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two goals in the first period. Henrik Thegel scored at 8:39 and William Wallen netted another marker at 18:44.

After a scoreless first period, Ryan Hegarty (Arlington, Mass.) put a shot through traffic into the back of the net for Team USA 3:51 into the third stanza.

Johannes Tornberg and Erik Karlsson added goals at 5:04 and 9:52 to to give Sweden a 4-1 advantage. Karlsson's tally was with a man advantage.

Team USA rallied with two power-play goals of its own, however, as Saponari and Warsofsky lit the lamp at 17:07 and 17:40, respectively. Saponari tapped in a backdoor pass off assists from Warsofsky and Jordan Schroeder (Prior Lake, Minn.). Warsofsky buried a shot from the point courtesy of helpers from Saponari and Patrick Gaul (Pittsburgh, Pa.).

Sweden's Marcus Johansson tacked on one more power-play marker with 1:12 left in regulation.

The U.S. National Under-18 Team resumes play in the Four Nations Tournament tomorrow against Finland at 4 p.m. local time and 11 a.m. ET.

NOTES: Joe Cannata (Wakefield, Mass.) recorded his second win of the season in net for Team USA ... Gaul continues to lead the team in scoring with 11 points (4-7--11). He is on a two-game point streak (0-2--2) ... Schroeder is on a two-game point streak (0-3--3) ... Saponari chipped in his fourth multi-point effort of the year, while Warsofsky recorded his third multi-point performances of the season ... Hegarty notched his third goal of 2007-08 ... Team USA is 0-1-0 at the 2007 Four Nations Tournament ... Both of the U.S. National Under-18 Team's power-play goals came during 6-on-4 delayed penalty situations ... Switzerland and Finland play in today's other Four Nations Tournament game ... Team USA challenges Switzerland on Sunday (Nov. 11) at 2:30 p.m. local time and 9:30 a.m. ET ... The number of shots taken by both teams was not available at the time of this release.

Check out the U.S. National Team Statistics

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