NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-18 Tops Belarus

Published on April 17, 2006 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ÄNGELHOLM, Sweden -- Lead by eight power-play goals, the U.S. National Under-18 Team handled Team Belarus 12-1 tonight to close out pool play in the 2006 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship.

USA defenseman Erik Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.) opened the scoring for Team USA with two goals, both on the power-play in the first 8:38 of the game. Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) scored his third goal of the tournament 56 seconds later to give Team USA the 3-0 advantage at the end of the first frame.

Team USA turned on the offense in the second period, scoring eight goals while surrendering one to put the game out of hand. Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored twice in the first 3:05 of the period, his fifth and sixth goals of the tournament to give USA the 5-1 lead. USA forward James O'Brien (Maplewood, Minn.) scored his first of two in the period twenty-seven seconds later to put Team USA up 6-1. Erik Johnson scored his third of the game on the power-play to push the lead to six 7:06 into the second frame. Mike Carman (Apple Valley, Minn.) buried his third goal of the tournament 1:50 later to give USA the 8-1 advantage. O'Brien scored his second of the period mid-way through the period with the four on three advantage, followed by Bill Sweatt's (Elburn, Ill.) fifth goal of the tournament 22 seconds later to give USA the 10-1 lead.

Belarus broke USA netminder Brett Bennett's (Williamsville, N.Y.) tournament shut-out streak of 93:44 when Igor Voroshilov buried his own rebound on the power-play to make it a 10-1 game 13:44 into the second period. Johnson scored his fourth goal of the night, this one even strength, when he sniped a wrist shot just under the bar with 4:27 remaining in the second period.

Team USA laid off the gas in the final frame, not taking the first shot on goal until 15:23 into the period. Ryan Hayes (Syracuse, N.Y.) scored his first goal of the tournament period with 2:59 remaining in the game on a feed from Jamie McBain (Faribault, Minn.).

Up next, Team USA has earned a bye for the cross-over round and will face the winner of the Sweden vs. Slovakia game on Thursday (April 20).

NOTES: Patrick Kane leads the tournament in scoring with 11 points (6-5) ... Jamie McBain leads the tournament in points by a defenseman with 10 (1-9) ... USA captain Brian Strait (Waltham, Mass.) earned Player of the Game for Team USA, the fourth different player for Team USA in the tournament ... Prior to the Belarus goal, Team USA had not been scored on in 207:19, dating back to the first period of the opening game versus Russia ... Team USA is 15 for 40 (37.5%) on the power-play during the tournament and have not allowed a power-play goal in 35 opponent attempts ... All USA games are broadcast live via the Internet at usahockey.com ... The IIHF World Under-18 Championship is a yearly event featuring the top 10 countries in the world. This year's field includes: Russia, Germany, Belarus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Finland, Canada, and Norway ... Team USA is the reigning gold-medal winner at this event, defeating Canada in the gold medal game 5-1 in Plzen, Czech Republic last year.

Check out the U.S. National Team Statistics

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



North American Hockey League Stories from April 17, 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