Sports stats



NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Drops Road Contest To Alpena

November 3, 2006 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ALPENA, Mich. - The U.S. National Under-17 Team lost on the road this evening to the Alpena Ice Diggers of the North American Hockey League at the Northern Lights Arena by a score of 5-2. Alpena's top line of Nolan Craner, Todd Rudasill, and Drew Pierson accounted for three of the five Ice Digger goals to lead their team.

Team USA struck first on the night with a powerplay goal from forward Colin Reddin (Corona Del Mar, Calif.), who finished a feed from Vinny Saponari (Powder Springs, Ga.), on the powerplay. Alpena responded with a powerplay tally of its own from Craner to even the score at 1-1 with just over a minute remaining in the opening period.

Alpena notched the contest's next two goals which provided a lead it would not relinquish. Team USA forward Patrick Gaul (Pittsburgh, Pa.) recorded his first goal of the season at the 13:39 mark of the third period, but the National Team's comeback effort fell short as Alpena added a pair of late goals to skate away with a 5-2 victory. Team USA goaltender Michael Clemente (Great Falls, Va.) stopped 44 Alpena shots in the losing effort.

"We played a very good team tonight that found a way to get it done," said U.S. Head Coach John Hynes (Warwick, R.I.). "We battled hard but we just didn't have enough at the end of the game to pull it out. We'll learn from tonight's loss in a tough road environment, and it will make us a better team in the future."

Next up for the U.S. National Under-17 Team is its first international competition of the 2006-07 season. USA Hockey will host the 2006 Phantom Fireworks Four Nations Tournament next week at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube where the U.S. National Under-17 Team will face the top under-17 teams from Slovakia (Nov. 6, 7:00 p.m. EST), Russia (Nov. 7, 7:00 p.m. EST), and Switzerland (Nov. 9, 7:00 p.m. EST).

Check out the U.S. National Team Statistics



North American Hockey League Stories from November 3, 2006


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