PLYMOUTH, Mich. – U.S. National Under-17 forward Cole Caufield (Stevens Point, Wis.) scored two goals and added an assist for Team USA in its 4-3 loss against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Saturday night at USA Hockey Arena.
With the loss, the U17s fall to 8-1-0-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) on the season. The combined Team USA is now 5-1-0-0 to start the season and currently sits tied for first place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.
Caufield opened the scoring at the 9:01 mark of the first period after taking the puck behind the net and banking a shot off RoughRiders goaltender Blake Pietila. Matthew Boldy (Millis, Mass.) and Jack Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) picked up assists on the play.
Caufield extended the lead at the 14:40 mark of the first period when he took a cross-zone feed from Hughes and wristed the puck past Pietila’s blocker. Boldy also picked up his second assist of the game on the goal.
The U17s took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Following a Cedar Rapids goal at the 4:30 mark of the second period, Hughes capitalized on a Team USA power play to record his third point of the night. Hughes took a feed from Caufield and walked the puck into the right faceoff circle and then fired a shot through traffic to the top left corner of the net. Boldy also picked up his third point on the night with a secondary assist.
Cedar Rapids followed the Hughes goal with three unanswered tallies to take a 4-3 lead into the second intermission.
The U17s outshot Cedar Rapids 17-4 in the third period but were unable to find an equalizer and the game ended with the 4-3 final.
Spencer Knight (Darien, Conn.) and Cameron Rowe (Wilmette, Ill.) split time in net for the U17s. Knight finished with 18 saves on 20 shots while Rowe finished with 8 saves on 10 shots.
Pietila stopped 31 shots for the RoughRiders.
The U17s travel to Fort St. John, British Columbia this week to compete in the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. They play a pre-tournament game against Canada Red on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET before the tournament officially starts on Sunday.
They next return to USA Hockey Arena on Friday, Nov. 17 when they take on the Chicago Steel at 7 p.m ET. Tickets are available for all Team USA games at USAHockeyNTDP.com/Tix.