USHL News

November 7, 2007

US Tops Belarus At World Junior A Challenge

Barry Almeida (Springfield, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal with five seconds remaining in overtime as the U.S. Junior Select Team to defeat Belarus, 7-6, in its first game at the 2007 World Junior A Challenge.

"The team made a great effort tonight," said P.K. O'Handley, head coach of Team USA. "We'll build on the positives from this game and be looking for better execution tomorrow night against Canada East."

After Belarus took a 2-0 lead in the opening period, Nico Sacchetti (Virginia, Minn.) cut Team USA's deficit in half just 56 seconds into the second stanza when he fired a wrist shot past netminder Valeriy Pronin. Artem Demkov and Pavel Razvodovski scored 1:13 apart to give Belarus a 4-1 advantage. Tim Hall (Sewickley, Pa.) answered back for Team USA with a power-play goal at 8:42 after he tapped a rebound past Pronin. With just 1:59 to play in the middle period, Blake Kessel (Verona, Wis.) notched a power-play goal to bring Team USA within one.

Razvodovski gave Belarus a 5-3 lead at 2:51 of the third period before Nick Dineen (Omaha, Neb.) scored at 4:20 to kick off Team USA's rally. Just 24 seconds later, Ben Blood (Plymouth, Minn.) fired a shot from the right point, through traffic to beat Pronin and tie the game, 5-5. Team USA took its first lead of the night at 14:20 of the period when Jack Connolly (Duluth, Minn.) drove to the net and tipped Blood's pass by a sprawling Pronin. Andrei Kolosov tied the game once again after tapping his own rebound past goaltender Brady Hjelle (International Falls, Minn.) with 2:41 remaining in regulation.

In the overtime period, Almeida chipped the puck past a Belarus defender and shot it over a charging Pronin to account for the 7-6 final.

Hjelle made 29 saves, including four in overtime, while earning the win.

The U.S. Junior Select Team returns to action tomorrow night against Canada East at 7:30 p.m. PST, in Nelson, B.C.

NOTES: Barry Almeida was named the U.S. Player of the Game - Almeida (1-2-3) and Blake Kessel (1-2-3) paced Team USA with three points each - Team USA out shot Belarus by a 45-35 margin - Prior to tonight's game, Almeida was named the team captain, while Kessel and Seth Helgeson (Faribault, Minn.) were tabbed as assistant captains.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

First Period - Scoring: 1, BLR, Demkov (Korotkevich, Razvodovski), 2:49; 2, BLR, Razvodovski (Eliseenko, Shumski), 13:02. Penalties: BLR, Korotkevich (slashing), :25; BLR, Shumski (interference), 6:23; USA, Kieffer (roughing), 7:53; BLR, Voroshilov (hooking), 8:12; BLR, Voroshilov (hooking), 13:36; BLR, Golubev (slashing), 15:12; USA, Lee (interference), 17:23.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, USA, Sacchetti (Almeida, Kessel), :56; 4, BLR, Demkov (Eliseenko, Golubev), 4:51; 5, BLR, Razvodovski (Demkov, Eliseenko), 6:04 (pp); 6, USA, Hall (Kessel), 8:42 (pp); 7, USA, Kessel (Festler, Hall), 18:01 (4x3 pp). Penalties: USA, Blood (hooking), 5:00; BLR, Korotkevich (hooking), 7:18; USA, Helgeson (high sticking), 11:45; BLR, Shumski (roughing), 16:22; USA, Lee (cross checking), 16:58; BLR, Mikhailov (slashing), 17:12.

Third Period - Scoring: 8, BLR, Razvodovski (Ladzik, Eliseenko), 2:15; 9, USA, Dineen (Almeida, Nicastro), 4:20; 10, USA, Blood (Sacchetti, Dineen), 4:44; 11, USA, Connolly (Blood), 14:20; 12, BLR, Kolosov (Komarov, Stas), 17:19. Penalties: BLR, Demkov (unsportsmanlike conduct), 4:44; BLR, Pavlovich (hooking), 6:39; BLR, Demkov (roughing), 14:09; USA, Cichy (roughing), 14:09; BLR, Golubev (roughing), 17:46.

Overtime Period - Scoring: 13, USA, Almeida (unassisted), 4:55. Penalties: None.