NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Drops Alpena, 6-2

Published on January 27, 2006 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In the first game of a National Team Development Program double-header, the U.S. National Under-17 Team dropped the Alpena Ice Diggers, 6-2 in North American Hockey League action this afternoon at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

Alpena jumped out to a 1-0 lead 2:44 into the game when Todd Rudasill buried a loose puck in front of USA netminder Josh Unice (Toledo, Ohio). USA defenseman Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) notched his third goal of the season on a blast from the left point to knot the game at one at the end of the first frame.

USA turned on the offense in the second period with a jump-start from a power-play goal by James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) 1:49 into the second period. Defenseman A.J. Sturges (Madison, Wis.) scored 4:20 later to give USA the two goal advantage at 4-2. USa forward Mike Cieslak (Penfield, N.Y.) got a gift when the Alpena goaltender skated towards the bench on what he thought was a delayed penalty, but he was wrong and Cieslak deposited the puck in the empty net to give USA the 5-1 lead.

Mid-way through the third period Colin Wilson (Greenwich, Conn.) stretched the USA lead to 6-1 with a power-play goal from Colby Cohen (Villanova, Pa.) and Sturges. Alpena scored a late power-play goal with 3:18 remaining for their second tally of the night to make the score 6-2.

USA netminder Josh Unice was strong in goal today stopping 38 of 40 Ice Diggers attempts to earn his seventh win of the season.

USA and Alpena (Mich.) face-off tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. here at the Ice Cube as part of the inagural Hockey Day in Michigan. In honor of the great day, USA Hockey is offering $1.00 tickets to any youth wearing a hockey jersey to the game tomorrow afternoon as well as the second half of the double header as the U.S. National Under-18 Team takes on Division I Rochester Institute of Technology at 7 p.m.

NOTES: USA forwards Justin Vaive (Buffalo, N.Y.), Philip McRae (Chesterfield, Mo.) and Ryan Hayes (Syracuse, N.Y.) and defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, N.Y.), Joe Lavin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and David Kolomatis (Basking Ridge, N.J.) all missed tonight's game due to injury, all three are expected to miss tomorrow game as well.

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North American Hockey League Stories from January 27, 2006


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