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Team Grier Tops Team Olczyk, 6-3, in Third Annual CCM/USAH All-American Prospects Game

By USAHockey.com, 09/25/14, 9:30PM EDT

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BUFFALO, N.Y.—Team Grier topped Team Olczyk, 6-3, thanks to a third period outburst at the third annual CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game. Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass./Boston Univ.) received Player of the Game honors with the game-winning goal plus an assist, while his linemate, Jeremy Bracco (Freeport, N.Y./ U.S. National Under-18 Team), tallied twice.

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Team Grier topped Team Olczyk, 6-3, thanks to a third period outburst at the third annual CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game. Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass./Boston Univ.) received Player of the Game honors with the game-winning goal plus an assist, while his linemate, Jeremy Bracco (Freeport, N.Y./ U.S. National Under-18 Team), tallied twice.

Stellar goaltending prevailed in the scoreless first period. Team Olczyk’s Mike Lackey (Washington, D.C./U.S. National Under-18 Team) stopped 10 of 10 shots, while Team Grier’s Luke Opilka (Effingham, Ill./U.S. National Under-18 Team) turned aside 16 shots. Both goaltenders had highlight-reel saves, including Lackey shutting the door on a Team Grier two-on-none rush.

Alec Baer (St. Louis Park, Minn.) opened the scoring at 5:35 of the second period on a redirection at the side of the net from Ryan Smith (Atlanta, Ga./Green Bay Gamblers) at the blue line

Just over a minute later, Brendan Warren (Carleton, Mich./U.S. National Under-18 Team) grabbed the puck out of a scramble in front of Team Grier’s net and it slid past Opilka to even the game at one.

Team Grier grabbed a 3-1 lead with goals at 13:10 and 14:27. Eichel held the puck in at the blue line and passed it to Bracco camped out at the side of the net for a quick one-timer into a nearly empty net. Next, after a missed odd-man rush, Karch Bachman (Wolcottville, Ind./Culver Military Academy), stayed at the side of the net, gathered the loose puck and rolled it in on his backhand.

At 9:48 of the second period, Opilka and Lackey swapped goaltending duties with Ryan Bednard (Macomb, Mich./Johnstown Tomahawks) and Ryan Larkin (Clarkston, Mich./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders), respectively.

Team Olczyk capitalized on the power play when Tom Novak (River Falls, Wis./Waterloo Black Hawks) finished a cross-crease pass from Brock Boeser (Burnsville, Minn./Waterloo Black Hawks), making it 3-2 at 16:44 of the second.

Team Grier secured the win in the latter half of the third period with three straight goals. At 11:13, Greenway dug the puck of the corner and passed it to a wide-open Eichel in front of the net, who easily roofed the puck over Larkin’s shoulder for the 4-2 lead. Almost four and half minutes later, Greenway flipped the puck out of the defensive end, springing Bracco for a breakaway that he converted. With less than four minutes left to play in the game, Kyle Connor (Shelby Township, Mich./Youngstown Phantoms) carried the puck around the net and passed to Connor Moynihan (Windham, N.H.) in front, who tapped it home for the 6-2 lead.

In the final minute of the game, Team Olczyk’s Tanner Laczynski (Shorewood, Ill./Chicago Steel) poked in a loose puck for the 6-3 final score.

Notes: Drew Stafford (Milwaukee, Wis.), who won a gold medal with the 2004 U.S. National Junior Team and is a current member of the Buffalo Sabres, presented the Player of the Game trophy to Jack Eichel … Five players had multi-point games: Jeremy Bracco (2-0), Alec Baer (1-1), Jack Eichel (1-2), Brandon Carlo (0-2) and Jordan Greenway (0-2) … Shots were 45-44 in Team Grier’s favor … Team Olczyk’s Ryan Larkin set a CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game record for most saves by a goaltender, stopping 24 of 29 shots.

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