5 Nations Tournament: USA vs. Finland
U.S. National Under-18 Team Tops Finland, 5-3
MOSCOW -- The U.S. National Under-18 Team (1-1-0) topped Finland (0-1-0), 5-3 in the second game of the 2006 Five Nations Tournament this afternoon.
The U.S. offense was ready right out of the gate today and Bill Sweatt (Elburn, Ill.) gave Team USA the early 1-0 advantage 1:54 into the game with a power-play goal. Forty-seven seconds later, USA forward Chris Atkinson (Sparta, N.J.) notched his first goal of the tournament on a play from Jamie McBain (Faribault, Minn.) to give USA the 2-0 advantage. Forward James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) stretched the USA lead to 3-0, 11:30 into the game on an unassisted goal.
In the second period, Finland struck back with three consecutive goals, the first coming on the power-play, to knot the game at three at the end of the second.
After killing two consecutive power-plays to open the third period, U.S. defenseman Jamie McBain scored the game winner with 9:41 remaining on a play from Luke Popko (Skillman, N.J.). U.S. National Under-18 Team’s newest addition Michael Forney (Thief River Falls, Minn.) added the final goal with 1:49 left in the game to give USA the 5-3 victory.
USA netminder Brett Bennett (Williamsville, N.Y.) plyed well today, stopping 23 of 26 Finland attempts to earn his first victory for the U.S. National Under-18 Team this season.
U.S. National Under-18 Team 5 vs Finland 3
Scoring By Period
USA 3-0-2 -- 5
FIN 0-3-0 --3
