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NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Rallies From Two Goal Deficit To Win In Overtime

April 22, 2006 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


PARMA, Ohio -- The U.S. National Under-17 Team rallied for a 4-3 overtime victory versus the Cleveland Barons tonight at the Lakefront Lines Arena in game four of the North American Hockey League north division finals. Despite falling behind by two goals early in the third period Team USA was able to fight back and force the game into overtime. Greg Squires (White Plains, NY) capped off the rally with the game winning goal at 4:24 of the extra period and USA netminder Josh Unice (Toledo, OH) made several splendid saves in overtime to collect his fifth victory of the 2006 postseason.

At 6:50 of the night's opening period Cleveland forward Eric Rex gave the Barons a 1-0 lead with a strong individual effort as he was able to skate past the Team USA defense and beat Unice in a one-on-one situation. Cleveland carried its one goal lead into the first intermission.

In the second period the Barons out shot Team USA 15-6 but it was the National Team that recorded the frames only tally. With just 30 seconds remaining in the period USA forward Justin Vaive (Buffalo, NY) created a two-on-one situation with a long, cross-ice breakout pass to Phillip McRae (Chesterfield, MO) who then fed USA defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, NY) for a beautiful one-timer past Cleveland goaltender Kenny Reiter. Heading into the second break the score was tied at 1-1.

After combining for only two goals in the first two periods, both teams found their offense in the third as each club added two tallies in the frame. The Barons opened the third with a pair of quick strikes by Clark MacLean at the 4:10 mark and another by Brett Jendra just one minute later to take a 3-1 lead. At 7:39 into the period USA forward Mike Cieslak (Penfield, NY) collected the puck at the bottom of the left circle and beat Reiter short side to record his third goal in as many games and bring the National Team back to within one. Team USA again evened the score, this time at 3-3, when a Shattenkirk blast from the blue line was deflected by forward Steve Sperry (Southlake, TX) and past Reiter with just under seven minutes to go in the period. As the teams skated off at the end of the regulation the scoreboard read USA National Team 3, Cleveland 3.

Cleveland opened the extra session with a flurry and created several excellent scoring opportunities. Unice had to be spectacular between the pipes to keep the puck out of the net and preserve his team's chances. At 4:24 of overtime USA forward Greg Squires (White Plains, NY) picked up the puck off the left half-boards in the Cleveland zone, flicked a shot towards the goal, and the puck found the back of the net. Squires' goal capped off the National Team's rally in the 4-3 overtime victory.

The win gives the U.S. National Under-17 Team a three games to one lead in the best-of-seven series versus Cleveland. Game five will be an afternoon affair tomorrow (April 23) at Lakefront Lines Arena in Parma, Ohio as game time is slated for 3:30 p.m.

NOTES: The U.S. National Under-17 Team was again without its top four leading scorers (Ryan Hayes, John Albert, James vanRiemsdyk and Colin Wilson) and top-scoring defenseman Cade Fairchild for game four of the series versus Cleveland. Hayes, Wilson, vanRiemsdyk and Fairchild are currently with the U.S. National Under-18 Team at the 2006 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championships and Albert is out of the line-up due to injury... USA defenseman David Kolomatis (Basking Ridge, NJ) is also out of the line-up due to injury... The winner of the USA/Cleveland series will advance to the NAHL National Championships in Boardman, Ohio, and will play for the 2006 Robertson Cup. The national championships begin on May 10.

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