NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Earns Silver At The 2005 World Challenge

January 4, 2006 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


REGINA, Saskatchewan -- The U.S. National Under-17 Team (3-2-1) fell to Team Quebec (5-1-0), 5-2 in the gold-medal game of the 2005 Under-17 World Challenge tonight in front of 3,206 fans at the Brandt Centre.

Team USA faced it's sixth game in as many days tonight and Quebec took advantage early. Team Quebec struck first 1:58 into the first when game Most Valuable Player Kevin Veilleux beat USA goaltender Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) to give Quebec the 1-0 lead. With 0:28 remaining in the first, Quebec struck again to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room after one.

Colin Wilson (Greenwich, Conn.) buried a rebound in front of Quebec goaltender Rafael D'Orso to cut the Quebec lead to one with 11:38 remaining in the second frame. The score remained unchanged through the remainder of the second period despite great scoring opportunities from the USA offense.

Team USA came out of the locker room flying to start the third period and USA defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, N.Y.) tied the game 36 seconds into the final period.

Quebec responded and scored three more times in the third, including an empty-net goal with 42 seconds remaining in the game to win the gold medal.

All-Tournament Team goaltender Phillips stopped 28 of 32 shots in goal for Team USA tonight.

NOTES: Shattenkirk was named the Player of the Game for Team USA ... Six different USA players won the Player of the Game award in six games this tournament ... USA forward James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) and goaltender Phillips were named to the all-tournament team ... The World Under-17 Challenge is an annual tournament hosted by Hockey Canada and includes five regional teams from Canada (Ontario, Paciffic, Quebec, Western, Atlantic) and 5 international teams ... This year's international field includes Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany and the United States) ... The U.S. National Under-17 Team has won two Under-17 Challenge tournaments (2001, 2002).

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