| Friday, August 9, 2019 Team USA finishes sixth at tournament BRECLAV, Czech Republic – The U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team closed out its 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup campaign today with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Czech Republic here at Fosfa Arena. “I’m very proud of our team’s effort tonight against the Czech Republic,” said head coach Pat Ferschweiler. “We went down early, but we fought back and showed a lot of togetherness as a team. We came out on the wrong side of the score tonight, but this group came together and I’m proud of the way they played not only today but in the entire tournament.” The Czech Republic took a 1-0 lead 12:27 into the first period when Michael Gut slotted a centering pass from Tomas Chlubna past Colin Purcell (Shaker Heights, Ohio). Czechia extended its lead three minutes later on the power play to take a 2-1 advantage into the first intermission. In the waning minutes of an otherwise quiet second period, Jack Williams (Biddeford, Maine) redirected an intended clear from Czech goaltender Jan Bednar into the net to cut the Czechs’ lead to 2-1 with 4:31 remaining in the frame. Cross Hanas (Highland Village, Texas) tied the game 11:31 into the third period after firing home a feed from Tanner Kelly (Clarkson, Mich.) at the top of the crease, but Jan Mysak poked a rebound from Sebastion Malat past Purcell just 15 seconds later to regain a one-goal advantage.With less than three minutes to play in regulation, Kelly dished out his second assist of the day when he slotted a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Noah Ellis (Urbandale, Iowa), who fired a wrist shot past Bednar to knot the game at 3-3. Searching for a goal in the final minutes of regulation, neither team could capitalize on their scoring chances as the game entered overtime. In the extra fame, Pavel Novak secured a 4-3 victory for the Czech Republic with a powerplay tally. Purcell made 14 saves in goal for the United States. NOTES: Wyatt Kaiser (Ham Lake, Minn.) was named the U.S. Player of the Game …The U.S. finishes sixth at this year’s tournament with a (0-1-2-1/W-OTW-OTL-L) overall record … Noah Ellis (Urbandale, Iowa) led all U.S. skaters in scoring with two goals and four points in five games. |
