NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Earns Dramatic Shootout Victory Over Alpena

Published on February 18, 2007 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The U.S. National Under-17 Team notched a 3-2 shootout victory over the Alpena IceDiggers tonight at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube to extends its unbeaten streak to six games. Forward Justin Florek (Marquette, Mich.) scored twice on the evening, his second straight two-goal effort, to lead Team USA to the North American Hockey League North Division victory.

Both sides took turns carrying the play in the opening period but neither squad could register a point. Team USA applied strong pressure early in the stanza but Alpena netminder Mike Jarboe was up to the task as he made several of his 12 first period saves in the game's opening minutes. NTDP netminder Adam Murray (Anchorage, Alaska) was equally impressive in keeping the IceDiggers off the scoreboard and registered 12 saves of his own in the opening stanza.

Florek put Team USA on the board first when he registered his twelfth goal of the season at 2:48 of the second period. Robbie Czarnik (Washington, Mich), who notched an assist on the power-play tally, gained the Alpena line along the right half boards and dropped the puck back to Florek who skated into the slot and wristed a laser past Jarboe into the upper right corner of the net for the 1-0 advantage.

Florek doubled the Team USA lead when he recorded his second goal of the night, and team-leading thirteenth of the season, at 9:54 of the second stanza. Just seconds after a Team USA power-play expired forward David Wohlberg (South Lyon, Mich.) fired a shot towards the net that was saved, but Florek collected the rebound in the slot and flipped the puck over a sprawling Jarboe for the two goal advantage.

Less than 30 seconds after stopping a 3-on-0 Alpena breakaway Murray was finally beaten as the IceDiggers cut the Team USA lead to one. Ricardo Yesue recorded a power-play tally when he deposited a rebound from a Nolan Craner shot at 12:54 of the period. The Alpena tally ended Murray's shutout streak of 92 minutes and 54 seconds to begin his NTDP career. During the streak Murray made 57 consecutive saves.

Late in the third period Alpena was able to pull even with a tally from Craner. At 17:40 of the period Mike DeGrazia skated down the left boards and sent a pass into the slot which Craner redirected past Murray to tie the contest at 2-2.

After a scoreless overtime session the squads squared off in a dramatic five-man shootout. Alpena scored on its first attempt when DeGrazia blasted a shot past Murray. Team USA would answer with successful attempts from captain Patrick Gaul (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Kevin McCarey (Baldwinsville, N.Y). After three straight saves by Murray in the Team USA net, forward Colin Moore (Medfield, Mass.) had the opportunity to end the contest in favor of the National Team. Moore didn't disappoint the home crowd as he deked and then lifted a back-hand shot past Jarboe to cap off the 3-2 Team USA victory.

Murray recorded 33 saves to earn his second win in as many starts this season.

"I think we showed some good composure tonight being able to bounce back after giving up a two goal lead," said Under-17 Head Coach John Hynes (Warwick, R.I.). "We have a tough week ahead so we are going to have to clean up the mistakes we made tonight if we are going to keep winning games."

The U.S. National Under-17 Team will be back in action this Tuesday night (Feb. 20) when its hosts the NAHL leading Mahoning Valley Phantoms at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. Tuesday's game is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Check out the U.S. National Team Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



North American Hockey League Stories from February 18, 2007


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