USHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National U17 Team Tops Des Moines, 4-1

Published on March 8, 2010 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Reid Boucher (Grand Ledge, Mich.) notched two goals, including the game-winner, while John Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) turned aside 42 shots as the U.S. National Under-17 Team earned a 4-1 victory over the Des Moines Buccaneers here tonight at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. With the win, the U.S. earned a two-game sweep of USHL West Division opponents.

Team USA took advantage of a fortuitous bounce to take a 1-0 lead just 23 seconds into the game when Zac Larraza's (Scottsdale, Ariz.) center-ice dump in glanced off the glass and into the wide-open net, which was left vacant by netminder Eric Mihalik, who anticipated the puck would go behind the cage. Gibson turned aside all 19 shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes to keep the Buccaneers off the board.

In a hard-fought second stanza, the U.S. doubled its advantage when Boucher collected Dan Carlson's (Corcoran, Minn.) rebound in the right corner and slid a shot under Mihalik from just beneath the goal line at 14:54. Gibson stopped another 13 shots to keep Des Moines at bay.

Boucher doubled the advantage for the U.S. when he took a feed from Travis Boyd (Hopkins, Minn.) and rifled a wrister through Mihalik from the top of the right faceoff circle for a power-play goal at 11:51. The Buccaneers answered back at 15:11 when H.T. Lenz broke into the U.S. zone on the right side and wristed a shot over Gibson's blocker. With just 48 seconds remaining in regulation Tyler Biggs (Cincinnati, Ohio) potted an empty-net goal to account for the 4-1 final.

The U.S. National Under-17 Team has next weekend off, but will be back in action with a game March 19 on the road against the Tri-City Storm. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. CST.

NOTES: Reid Boucher notched three goals in Team USA's two games, including the game-winner in both contests... Tyler Biggs scored his team-best 15th goal of the season. Biggs had three points (2-1) on the weekend... In both of his starts this week, John Gibson made a total of 89 saves while earning victories in both games. Gibson has registered six 40-plus save performances this season.

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United States Hockey League Stories from March 8, 2010


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