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NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. Nat'l U17 Team Tops Alpena, 6-3

March 6, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ALPENA, Mich. - Emerson Etem (Long Beach, Calif.) scored two of the U.S. National Under-17 Team's four third-period goals as it topped the Alpena IceDiggers, 6-3, here tonight.

Alpena struck 1:51 into regulation to make it 1-0 after Jon Puskar's goal. Team USA answered back when Tyler Amburgey's (Rowlett, Texas) shot deflected to Luke Moffatt (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) who put the puck past netminder Nick Graves at 8:56.

Michael Mersch (Park Ridge, Ill.) gave Team USA a 2-1 advantage when he converted on a Shane Sooth (Canyon County, Calif.) pass for a power-play marker at 7:20 of the second stanza.

Sooth scored the first of six total third-period goals at 3:39 on the power play to give the U.S. a two-goal cushion. Alpena's Jordan Miller brought the Diggers within a goal at 9:09. Just 15 seconds later Mersch took a pass from Matthew Nieto (Long Beach, Calif.) and put the puck past Graves to make it 4-2. At 13:06, Etem put the exclamation point on a tic-tac-toe play when he slipped Nieto's feed into a wide-open net. Sooth also was credited with an assist on the play. Just 2:43 later, Etem struck again after netminder Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich.) sent the puck up the boards, giving Etem a breakaway. Etem deked from his forehand, to backhand and back to the forehand and slipped the puck past Graves. Jay Camper tallied with just 42 seconds remaining in the game to account for the 6-3 final.

Campbell made 32 saves to tally his 19th victory of the season.

The U.S. National Under-17 Team is back in action Saturday against Alpena at 7 p.m. ET.

NOTES: Matthew Nieto notched two points tonight to stretch his team-leading point total to 52 (20-32) ... Team USA converted on each of its two power-play opportunities, while holding the IceDiggers scoreless on five power-play tries ... Michael Mersch has posted seven points in his last four games (4-3) including three power-play goals. He has 36 points (19-17) on the season.

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North American Hockey League Stories from March 6, 2009


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