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NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Falls to NAHL-Leading Phantoms, 7-4

January 15, 2007 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A four-goal third period by the North American Hockey League's top squad, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms, dropped the U.S. National Under-17 Team by a 7-4 score.

The Phantoms opened the scoring with two goals in the opening 9:59 of the game. The first tally came while on the 5-on-3 man advantage and the second at even strength. Kelen Corkum (Newbury, Mass.) cut the Phantoms lead to one at 2-1 with 24 seconds remaining in the opening period. U.S. forwards Colin Moore (Medfield, Mass.) and Patrick Gaul (Pittsburgh, Pa.) cycled the puck deep in the Mahoning Valley end then fed Corkum out front of the net who buried it past Phantoms netminder Ryan Zapolski.

Team USA tied the game at 2-2 6:34 into the second period when Vinny Saponari (Powder Springs, Ga.) fed a streaking Sean Lorenz (Littleton, Colo.) who knocked the puck past Zapolski as he was being pushed into the net for his first goal of the season. The Phantoms replied 5:02 later on Alden Hirschfeld's second goal of the night to gain the 3-2 advantage. Kevin McCarey (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) evened the game at 3-3 with 2:58 left in the second period when he walked out of the right corner and blasted a shot past Zapolski to the far side of the net.

The Phantoms gained the 4-3 lead on a power-play blast from Dustin Cloutier 5:16 into the final frame. Mahoning Valley added two more man-advantage tallies in the next 4:16 to stretch the lead to 6-3. With 4:51 left in the game the Phantoms added another tally on Derek Graham's second goal of the night to cap off the four-goal third period barrage. The U.S. added a late goal from Jordan Schroeder (Lakeville, Minn.) with 2:58 remaining in the game to make it a 7-4 contest.

"Mahoning showed why they are the top team in the NAHL today,"said U.S. Head Coach John Hynes (Warwick, R.I.). "They really capitalized on their chances and that was the difference in today's outing."

The U.S. National Under-17 Team will host the Marquette Rangers of the NAHL on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 19-20, at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

NOTES: Corkum has recorded a goal in each of his last two games.

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