NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. Nat'l U17 Team Tops Alpena, 5-1

February 20, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Austin Czarnik (Washington, Mich.) recorded three points (1-2) and Will Yanakeff (Jerome, Mich.) stopped 42-of-43 shots as the U.S. National Under-17 Team defeated the Alpena IceDiggers, 5-1, here tonight.

After a scoreless first period, Nick Shore (Denver, Colo.) broke the deadlock when he took a feed from Czarnik and slid a shot past netminder Nick Graves from the slot at 11:23 of the second stanza. Jarred Tinordi (Millersville, Md.) also drew an assist on the play.

The third period saw a flurry of goals beginning with Czarnik's tally at 9:33. Matt Rust (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) scored just five seconds into a power-play opportunity to make it 3-0 in favor of the U.S. at 12:08. Alpena's Jim McCusker cut the deficit to 3-1 with a goal at 12:46. Emerson Etem (Long Beach, Calif.) made it 4-1 at 14:13 when he streaked down the right wing, past a defender and rifled a shot into the upper left corner of the net. Just seven seconds later, Jacob Fallon (Soutlake, Texas) picked up the puck at center ice, skated into the Alpena zone and wired a shot past Graves to make it 5-1.

The U.S. will take on Alpena once again at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

NOTES: The U.S. pulled even with the IceDiggers for third place in the NAHL North Division standings with the win ... The U.S. National Under-17 Team has outscored its opponents 13-1 in its last two contests.

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