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NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. Nat'l U17 Team Drops Alpena, 3-2

February 21, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Matthew Nieto (Long Beach, Calif.) notched a penalty-shot goal and added an assist as the U.S. National Under-17 Team completed a weekend sweep of the Alpena IceDiggers, earning a 3-2 victory here tonight at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

Alpena got on the board first after Jim McCusker scored at 11:03. Nieto was awarded a penalty shot at 15:34. Nieto skated in on netminder Nick Graves with speed, put the puck to his forehand and zipped a shot off the left post and into the net to tie the score. At 17:13, Richard Manley's power-play goal gave Alpena a 2-1 advantage.

In the second stanza, Austin Czarnik (Washington, Mich.) knotted the game after he took a head-man pass from Nick Shore (Denver, Colo.), streaked down the right wing and rifled a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle through Graves for a shorthanded marker.

After a back and forth third frame, Jacob Fallon (Southlake, Texas) converted on a tic-tac-toe play involving Nieto and Frankie Simonelli (Bensenville, Ill.). Nieto fed the puck to Simonelli on the right point, who sent it to a wide-open Fallon in the high slot. Fallon fired a wrist shot into the upper-left corner to give the U.S. the 3-2 lead at 13:54. Despite its efforts, Alpena was unable to solve U.S. goaltender Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich.), allowing Team USA to take the 3-2 win.

Campbell made 26 saves on the night to earn his 18th victory of the season.

The U.S. National Under-17 Team is back in action on Tuesday (February 24) against NAHL North Division leader Mahoning Valley at 10 a.m. ET at the Chevy Centre.

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