U.S. Junior Select Team Defeats Canada West, 9-0, in Final World Junior A Challenge Preliminary Game

U.S. Junior Select Team Defeats Canada West, 9-0, in Final World Junior A Challenge Preliminary Game
Team USA to face Canada East in semifinals Saturday

CAMROSE, Alberta – Behind two goals from Ben Kevan (Fairfield, Calif.), Brendan McMorrow (Lakeville, Minn.) and Finn Brink (Maple Grove, Minn.), the U.S. Junior Select Team earned a 9-0 victory over Canada West in its final preliminary round contest of the 2024 World Junior A Challenge tonight.
“I am really proud of how our team played,” said Matty Smaby (Minneapolis, Minn.), head coach of the U.S. Junior Select Team. “Score aside, I thought our team played a complete game. For 60 minutes we competed, made good puck decisions and played a great team game. Tonight was a great game for our team to build on.”
The U.S. got off to a 4-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes. Kevan opened the scoring 5:10 into the contest when he poked home a rebound during Team USA’s first man advantage opportunity of the contest.
Reid Daavetilla (Howell, Mich.) found the back of the net just 10 seconds later, capitalizing on an odd-man rush opportunity directly off the faceoff. Lucas Van Vliet (Livonia, Mich.) and McMorrow added helpers on the tally.
Ryan Rucinski (Broadview Heights, Ohio) increased the lead at 6:46, scoring on a rebound chance and Kevan added his second goal of the night and fourth power-play tally of the 2024 World Junior A Challenge on a net-front scrum at 18:58.
The U.S. extended its lead just past the mid-point of the middle stanza after Teddy Mutryn (Norwell, Mass.) forced a turnover in the U.S. defensive zone which resulted in Brink finishing a two-on one opportunity.
Jack Pechar (Niskayuna, N.Y.) added a sixth U.S. goal at 13:47 on a breakaway opportunity generated by a stretch pass from Drake Murray (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) before McMorrow fired a one-timer home on the power-play at 18:18 to give the U.S. a 7-0 advantage after 40 minutes.
McMorrow added his second of the game off a turnover in front of the net just 1:08 into the final frame. Brink found the back of the net on a high wrister to increase the U.S. lead to 9-0 at the 8:49 mark.
U.S. netminder Caleb Heil posted his second shutout of the tournament, stopping all 19 Canada West shots.
The U.S. Junior Select Team is back in action Saturday (Dec. 14) for a semifinal matchup with Canada East at either 1:00 p.m. local/3:00 p.m. ET or 5:00 p.m. local/7:00 p.m. ET.
NOTES: Team USA outshot Canada, 44-19 … The U.S. was 3-8 on the power play, while Canada was 0-9 … Caleb Heil was named Team USA’s Player of the Game.
For more information, contact Francis Forte ([email protected] / 201-923-3229)