August 5, 2008

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The first day of international competition at the 2008 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp concluded here today with Team Blue defeating Finland, 4-1, and Team White falling to Sweden, 3-2, in overtime. Both games featured numerous opportunities for the squads to hone their special-teams skills, as a total of 57 penalties were called.

In the night's first game between the United States' Team Blue and Finland, Ryan Bourque (Boxford, Mass.) started the scoring when he buried a rebound past Finnish goalie Juha Metsola for a power-play goal at 11:32 of the opening period. Corey Tropp (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) doubled USA Blue's lead when he received a pass from Drew LeBlanc (Hermantown, Minn.) and fired a wrist shot over the glove of Metsola.

Bourque again took advantage of a U.S. power play when he scored from the right circle at 1:02 of the second period to make it a 3-0 games. Finland got on the scoreboard with a power-play goal of its own when Jesse Jyrkkio put a wrist shot past U.S. goaltender Thomas McCollum (Sanborn, N.Y.) at 3:18.

At 11:21 of the third period, Nick Palmieri (Wolverine Lake, Mich.) regained the three-goal advantage for the United States. After AJ Jenks (Wolverine Lake, Mich.) fired a shot on net, Palmieri gathered the rebound and put it into the back of the net to give USA Blue the 4-1 victory.

In the second game, Sweden's David Ullstrom squeezed the puck through a screen and past USA White goalie Jeremy Smith (Brownstown, Mich.) at 6:31 of the opening frame for the first of the game's five power-play goals. With eight seconds left in a five-on-three advantage, David Warsofsky (Marshfield, Mass.) lasered a shot from the point at 12:47 of the period that knocked the Swedish water bottle off of the net as it went into the goal to tie the game at 1-1. James van Riemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) tipped in Mitch Wahl's (Seal Beach, Calif.) shot from the top of the circle at 17:19 to give USA White its first lead of the game.

After a scoreless second period, Sweden tied the game 2-2 by tipping the puck past Smith at 1:20 of the third. The U.S. squad tried relentlessly to regain the lead, but Swedish goalie Juha Metsola turned away any chance of doing so, and the teams ended regulation play in a tie.

After a U.S. penalty gave Sweden a four-on-three advantage, Nichlas Torp scored on a shot from the point at 3:42 of the overtime session to give Sweden the 3-2 victory.

Team White will face Finland tomorrow at 4 p.m EDT., while Team Blue will play Sweden at 7 p.m. EDT.

GAME ONE SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Bourque (Palushaj, Wilson), 11:32 (pp); 2, USA, Tropp (LeBlanc, Comrie), 18:12. Penalties: FIN, Liljeblad (tripping), 2:02; FIN, Pallassalo (interference), 6:47; USA, Palushaj (slashing), 8:32; FIN, Niemi (hooking), 9:48; FIN, Hartikainen (boarding), 10:14; FIN, Niemi (hit from behind), 11:02; FIN, Niemi (10-minute misconduct), 11:02; USA, Comrie (slashing), 11:16; USA, Kessel (holding), 14:12; FIN, Poysti (illegal equipment), 14:56; USA, Wilson (elbowing), 17:12; FIN, Hartikainen (interference), 18:06; FIN, Lahde (roughing), 20:00.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, USA, Bourque (Palushaj, Wilson), 1:02 (pp); 4, FIN Jyrkkio (Roppo), 3:18 (pp). Penalties: USA, Palmieri, N. (tripping), :46; FIN, Talonen (tripping), 3:02; USA, Kristo (hooking), 3:16; FIN, Jyrkkio (high sticking), 5:28; USA, Tropp (tripping), 6:08; USA, Comrie (hooking), 10:14; USA, Carlson (roughing), 10:14; FIN, Melart (roughing), 10:14; USA, Carlson (high sticking), 13:31; FIN, Jyrkkio (interference), 13:40; USA, Palmieri, N. (tripping), 14:31; USA, Carlson (high sticking), 17:08; USA, Bourque (boarding), 17:51.

Third Period - Scoring: 5, USA, Palmieri, N. (Jenks, Long), 11:21. Penalties: USA, Long (holding), 2:18; USA, Fairchild (cross checking), 4:17; USA, Comrie (roughing), 6:16; FIN, Niemi (roughing), 6:16; FIN, Rask (holding), 7:47; USA, Fairchild (hooking), 7:56; FIN, Lucenius (high sticking), 12:08; USA, Comrie (holding), 14:10.

Shots by Period	1	2	3	Total
USA	8	5	7	20
FIN	3	4	6	13
Goaltenders (SH/SV)	1	2	3	Total
USA, McCollum 60:00	3-3	4-3	6-6	13-12
FIN, Metsola 60:00	8-6	5-4	7-6	20-16

Power Play: USA 2-14; FIN 1-16
Penalties: USA 18-36; FIN 16-40
Referees-Eric Ernst, Steve Patafie; Linesmen-Tom George, Chris Snear

GAME TWO SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

First Period - Scoring: 1, SWE, Ullstrom (Nyquist), 6:31 (pp); 2, USA, Warsofsky (Tangradi, Fowler), 12:47 (pp); 3, US,A van Riemsdyk (Wahl, Morin), 17:19 (pp). Penalties: SWE, Lasu (hooking), :13; SWE, Westin (tripping), 2:59; USA, Hoeffel (hooking), 5:20; USA, van Riemsdyk (kneeing), 5:59; SWE , Karlsson (holding), 10:48; SWE, Hedman (hooking), 12:40; SWE, Ekbom (elbowing), 16:24; USA, Hoeffel (hooking), 18:27.

Second Period - Scoring: None. Penalties: SWE, Hedman (tripping), 4:59; USA, Warsofsky (holding), 5:22; USA, Petrecki (roughing), 5:56; SWE, Persson, M. (hooking), 9:50; USA, Bogosian (holding) 10:51; USA, Warsofsky (delay of game), 12:04; SWE, Karlsson (slashing), 12:54; USA, Morin (elbowing), 17:06; USA, McRae (holding the stick), 19:50.

Third Period - Scoring: 4, SWE Hjalmarsson (Andersson, Westin), 1:20 (pp). Penalties: SWE, Andersson (tripping), 5:07; SWE, Motin (cross checking), 6:29; SWE, Hedman (holding), 8:24; SWE, Andersson (holding), 11:49; USA, Czarnik (roughing), 18:06.

Overtime - Scoring: 5, SWE, Torp (Ekbom), 3:42 (pp). Penalties: USA, McRae (hooking), 2:51.

Shots by Period		1	2	3	OT	Total
USA		14	10	8	0	32
SWE		3	6	4	1	14
Goaltenders (SH/SV)		1	2	3	OT	Total
USA, Smith 63:42		3-2	6-6	4-3	1-0	14-11
SWE, Markstrom 63:42		14-12	10-10	8-8	0-0	32-30

Power Play: USA 2-11; SWE 3-12
Penalties: USA 11-22; SWE 12-24
Referees: Sean Davis, Shane Warschaw; Linesmen: Justin Lyle, Robert St. Lawrence