U.S. National Junior Team Hangs-On Against Sweden
December 30, 2003 | Men's Hockey
The United States National Junior Team defeated Sweden, 4-3, Tuesday in the third, and most difficult, of its Preliminary Round games to date at the 2004 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship. Team USA moves to 3-0-0 and has the top standing in Group A, with one Preliminary Round game remaining. Forward Stephen Werner (Chevy Chase, Md./Univ. of Massachusetts) was named Team USA's player of the game for his two-goal performance, including a short-handed game winner.
"It was a battle," said U.S. head coach Mike Eaves (Madison, Wis.). "Whenever you come to a tournament like this, you expect games like these and you have to find a way to win. Fortunately for us, we were able to do that."
Team USA opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 5:26 of the first period. Brady Murray (Faribault, Minn./Univ. of North Dakota) drew a holding penalty to give the U.S. the man-advantage, when Werner tipped in defenseman James Wisniewski's (Canton, Mich./Plymouth Whalers) shot from the point.
Two Swedish players would hit the post in the first and U.S. goaltender Al Montoya (Glenview, Ill./Univ. of Michigan) was tested in net, but defenseman Matt Carle (Anchorage, Alaska/Univ. of Denver) gave the U.S. a two-goal advantage at 11:29 when he knocked the puck through a scrum in front of Swedish netminder Magnus Akerlund.
The U.S. was outscored in the second period, 2-1, with the first Team Sweden goal coming at 5:34. With each team skating four to a side, Montoya chose not to freeze a puck to his left, and instead attempted a pass to his defenseman. Alexander Steen jumped on the unclaimed puck and fired it from close range past Montoya.
The U.S. answered with a tic-tac-toe goal on a 3-on-1 break. Brett Sterling (Pasadena, Calif./Colorado College) drove down the left side of the ice, moved the puck to the center, and was eventually rewarded with a pass across the crease from Greg Moore (Lisbon, Maine/Univ. of Maine).
Sweden again cut the lead to a goal when Johan Franson beat Montoya with a low shot to the stick side. Sebastian Meijer's power-play goal tied the game at 3-3 in the third and set up a tense finish, considering after a Patrick Eaves (Faribault, Minn./Boston College) penalty gave Sweden a power play 32 seconds later.
It was an unlikely, though not undeserved, shorthanded goal that gave the U.S. the scoring it would need to hold on for the win. Zach Parise (Faribault, Minn./Univ. of North Dakota) helped break up Sweden's power play and broke the puck out by himself. Team USA kept the puck low until Parise found Werner for the tap-in game-winner. With two assists by Parise in the contest, he becomes the leading scorer in the tournament with eight points (4-4) through three games.
In Groud B in Helsinki, the Czech Republic defeated Switzerland, 2-1, with one more game in each venue -- Ukraine vs. Finland and Slovakia vs. Austria - scheduled for Tuesday evening. The U.S. next plays Russia tomorrow at 9 a.m. EST. With a win or a tie, the U.S. will receive a bye in the Qualification Round and automatically advance to the Semifinals on Jan. 3. The game will be exclusively audiocast on USA Hockey's website, usahockey.com.
