Friday, January 6, 2017

U.S. Comes Back for Gold

Most NCAA players in history claim gold at World Juniors as Americans win in shootout

U.S. Comes Back for Gold

The United States erased a pair of two-goal deficits and scored the only goal of a five-round shootout to claim USA Hockey’s fourth gold medal in the World Junior Championship, beating Canada in Montreal Thursday night, 5-4.

Twenty NCAA players filled the U.S. roster, the most college players ever to win gold in the event. Team USA – which didn’t lose a game throughout the tournament – was led by St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko and a staff of NCAA assistant coaches.

Denver’s Troy Terry (Denver, Colo./U.S. NTDP/ANA) was the shootout hero for the second straight night. After going 3-for-3 in shootout opportunities against Russia in the semifinals, Terry scored the only goal of the gold-medal shootout in the fourth of five rounds.

To reach the shootout, the U.S. had to overcome a pair of two-goal deficits. Canada jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 9:02 of the game and held that advantage entering the second period.

Boston University – which had six representatives on the U.S. team and seven in the game, including Canada’s Dante Fabbro (New Westminster, B.C./Penticton-BCHL/NSH) – produced the first two goals for the U.S. to tie the score in the second. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy (Long Beach, N.Y./U.S. NTDP/BOS) jumped into the play and scored just 3:04 into the second.

A little more than six minutes later Kieffer Bellows (Edina, Minn./U.S. NTDP/NYI), another Terrier, had a shot from the point deflect off his pants on a U.S. power play for his first goal of the tournament.

Canada answers

Tied entering the third period, Canada roared back again. Two goals in a 2:13 span returned the two-goal lead for the home team.

The BU connection answered back for Team USA. McAvoy threaded a pass to Bellows for his second goal of the game just 39 second after Canada’s fourth goal to make it 4-3. Boston College sophomore Colin White (Hanover, Mass./U.S. NTDP/OTT) deflected a shot for his team-leading seventh goal of the tournament.

Harvard freshman Adam Fox (Jericho, N.Y./U.S. NTDP/CGY) had three assists in the game, including the point shot that led to Bellows’ first goal and White’s equalizer.

A frenetic 20-minute overtime couldn’t produce a winner and the game went to a five-round shootout. Goaltenders Tyler Parsons for the U.S. and Carter Hart for Canada were perfect except for Terry’s shot that beat Hart between his legs.

Tourney honors

McAvoy was named the U.S. player of the game. He and BU teammate Clayton Keller (Swansea, Ill./U.S. NTDP/ARI) were named to the all-tournament team by the media, while they were joined by another Terrier, Jordan Greenway (Canton, N.Y./U.S. NTDP/MIN), as the top three U.S. players of the tournament.

The top five scorers in the tournament for the United States – Keller, White, Greenway, Terry and McAvoy – were all NCAA players.

Two NCAA players earned silver medals with Canada: Fabbro and North Dakota freshman Tyson Jost (St. Albert, Alta./Penticton-BCHL/COL).