NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. Nat'l U17 Team Tops Alpena, 6-4

January 24, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


ALPENA, Mich. - Jason Zucker (Las Vegas, Nev.) tallied a hat trick and Kevin Clare (New Rochelle, N.Y.) notched two goals including the game-winner as the U.S. National Under-17 Team downed North American Hockey League North Division foe Alpena IceDiggers, 6-4, here tonight.

Jon Merrill (Brighton, Mich.) opened the scoring for Team USA with his first-career NTDP goal at 5:13 of the first period when his slap shot deflected between the legs of netminder Nick Graves. Just 1:29 later, Zucker walked out from the half wall and fired a wrist shot past the outstretched glove of Graves. Zucker added his second goal to make it 3-0 just 15 seconds later. Team USA out shot the IceDiggers 20-9 in the opening stanza, with netminder Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich.) stopping all nine shots he faced.

Just 1:39 into the second frame, Alpena's Jim McCusker put the puck past Campbell to narrow the gap to two. Clare answered back on the power-play when the puck popped out to the high slot and he blasted it over the blocker of Graves at 9:25. The IceDiggers got goals from Sam Cheraso and John Fritsche to come within one of the U.S. heading into the final 20 minutes.

Tyler Pilmore tied the score 2:06 into the third stanza with a power-play marker. At 13:24, Luke Moffatt (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) found Clare, who snuck past the defense and beat Graves high-blocker to give Team USA the 5-4 lead. With just 54 seconds remaining in regulation, Zucker iced the game with an empty-net goal to account for the 6-4 final.

Campbell made 29 saves to earn his 13th victory of the season.

The U.S. National Under-17 Team will close out the weekend series against Alpena on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET at the Northern Lights Arena.

Check out the U.S. National Team Statistics



North American Hockey League Stories from January 24, 2009


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