U.S. Junior Select Team Falls to Sweden, 5-3, in World Junior A Challenge Preliminary Contest
Team USA closes preliminary round play against Canada West Thursday
CAMROSE, Alberta – The U.S. Junior Select Team got two goals from Ben Kevan (Fairfield, Calif.) and had a 35-28 shots-on-goal advantage, but dropped a 5-3 decision to Sweden here tonight in preliminary round play at the 2024 World Junior A Challenge.
“Tonight was a disappointing result for our team, but at the same time it is a great opportunity for us to learn more about what it is going to take to win this tournament,” said Matty Smaby (Minneapolis, Minn.), head coach of the U.S. Junior Select Team. “Our goal is to be playing our best hockey by the end of the tournament. I have faith that this group is going to continue to get better and improve as we go.”
Kevan opened the scoring 13:27 into the opening frame, sliding the puck past sprawling Swedish netminder Måns Goos following a net-front scramble.
Kevan struck again at 17:14, this time on the power play, after he redirected a pass from Will Zellers (Maple Grove, Minn.) to put Team USA ahead 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Jack Pechar (Niskayuna, N.Y.) nearly extended Team USA’s early in the middle frame on the power play, but rang one off the post.
Sweden cut the U.S. lead to one at 14:46, as Arvid Drott capitalized on a breakaway opportunity.
U.S. netminder Kam Hendrickson (Chanhassen, Minn.) made a pair of sprawling saves on a Swedish power late in the period, but Eric Nilson was able to tie up the game with a man advantage marker at 17:02.
Third period goals from Zeb Lindgren at 2:41, Oliwer Sjöström at 6:51 staked Sweden to a 4-2 advantage.
Lucas Van Vliet (Livonia, Mich.) found the back of the net on a shot from the point to trim Sweden’s lead to one at 10:54. Finn McLaughlin (Arlington Heights, Ill.) picked up an assist on Van Vliet’s tally.
Joe Wahlund finished the scoring with 2:00 remaining to account for the 5-3 final score.
The U.S. is 1-1 in the tournament and will play its final preliminary round game on Thursday (Dec. 12) with opening faceoff set for 7:30 p.m. local/9:30 p.m. ET. A live stream of the game can be found here.
NOTES: Team USA went one-for-six on the power play while Sweden went one-for-four … Ben Kevan was named Team USA’s player of the game.
For more information, contact Francis Forte ([email protected] / 201-923-3229)