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NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Claims 2-1 Victory Over Traverse City

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


ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Jordan Schroeder (Lakeville, Minn.) notched a goal and an assist tonight for Team USA as the U.S. National Under-18 Team dropped the Traverse City North Stars by a score of 2-1 in a North American Hockey League North Division contest. at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

Traverse City opened the night's scoring late in the first frame with a power-play tally from Zach Hitch with 2:31 remaining in the period. Nick Von Bokern's blast from the right circle was initially stopped by Team USA netminder Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) but the rebound caromed right to Hitch, who was parked just outside the crease, and he promptly slid the puck into the open net to give the North Stars the 1-0 advantage.

Team USA evened the contest with a power-play goal of its own mid-way through the second stanza. Colin Wilson (Greenwich, Conn.) got the play started when he cycled the puck in deep to linemate Schroeder. The U.S. forward collected the puck and found a streaking Justin Vaive (Buffalo, N.Y.) in the slot who buried the puck past goaltender Kyle Jendra at 11: 23 of the period.

Schroeder gave his squad its first lead of night when he beat Jendra with 7:32 remaining in the contest. The tally, which would turn out to be the game winner, was set up by terrific team passing when defenseman Cade Fairchild (Duluth, Minn.) sent a blueline to blueline feed to Wilson. After Wilson drew the attention of two North Star defenders he slid the puck to Schroeder who skated in all alone on a breakaway. Schroeder calmly tucked the puck just inside the right post as Team USA took the 2-1 advantage.

Phillips recorded 16 saves to earn his fourteenth win of the season.

"We found a way to win tonight so that's important," said U.S. Head Coach Ron Rolston. "It certainly wasn't the effort we were looking for. We'll need to be better tomorrow if we hope to record another win."

The North Stars and Team USA will meet again tomorrow evening in the second half of the two-game weekend series. Saturday's contest is slated to begin at 7:05 p.m. EST.

NOTES: Team USA assistant captain Teddy Ruth (Naperville, Ill.), leading scorer James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) and forward Mike Hoeffel (North Oaks, Minn.) were out of the lineup tonight due to injury.

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