The United States defeated Kazakhstan, 12-0, Tuesday in its third of four preliminary-round games at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.<\/p>\n
The victory moves the U.S. to 3-0 and a much-anticipated date with unbeaten Canada Wednesday to determine the winner of Group A. The winner receives a bye to the tournament semifinals on Jan. 3, while the loser will play a quarterfinal game on Jan. 2.<\/p>\n
Despite some good chances, it wasn’t until 16:26 of the opening stanza that Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.\/University of Notre Dame) found the back of the net on a blast from the top of the circle with the U.S. on the power play. Aaron Palushaj (Northville, Mich.\/University of Michigan) scored :41 later from the left circle, before Drayson Bowman (Littleton, Colo.) gave Team USA a 3-0 advantage at 18:59.<\/p>\n
Colin Wilson (Greenwich, Conn.\/Boston University) scored goals :19 apart in the opening 1:11 of the second stanza to stake the U.S. a 5-0 lead. The U.S. tallied three more goals in the period, including power-play tallies by James van Riemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.\/University of New Hampshire) and Palushaj sandwiched around a Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.\/Omaha) goal.<\/p>\n
With the U.S. on a five-on-three power play, Mike Hoeffel (North Oaks, Minn.\/University of Minnesota) banged the puck past netminder Andrei Yankov after a scrum in front of the Kazakhstan net at 10:08 of the third period to make it 9-0. Team USA tallied three more goals, finished off by Matt Rust’s (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.\/University of Michigan) marker at 19:55.<\/p>\n
Thomas McCollum (Sanborn, N.Y.) stopped all 10 shots he faced, including seven in the third period, to account for the shutout.<\/p>\n
The U.S. National Junior Team returns to action Wednesday when it faces Canada at 7:30 p.m. EST in the final preliminary-round game at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ont. The game can be seen live in the United States on the NHL Network.<\/p>\n
Notes:<\/b> Seventeen players tallied at least one point for Team USA in the win … Cade Fairchild (Duluth, Minn.\/University of Minnesota) was named Team USA’s Player of the Game … Defenseman Jonathon Blum (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) is the captain of the 2009 U.S. National Junior Team, while forward Colin Wilson and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, N.Y.\/Boston University) are the team’s alternate captains … Ron Rolston (Ann Arbor, Mich.), head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team within USA Hockey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s National Team Development Program, is the head coach of the 2009 U.S. National Junior Team. Nate Leaman (Clifton Park, N.Y.\/Union College) and P.K. O’Handley (Waterloo, Iowa\/Waterloo Black Hawks) are serving as assistant coaches, while Jeff Blashill (Indianapolis, Ind.\/Indiana Ice) is the goaltending coach … The NHL Network will broadcast live all Team USA games in the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship … Team USA finished fourth at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship and has played for a medal in the event each of the last six years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States defeated Kazakhstan, 12-0, Tuesday in its third of four preliminary-round games at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship. The victory moves the U.S. to 3-0 and a much-anticipated date with unbeaten Canada Wednesday to determine the winner of Group A. The winner receives a bye to the tournament semifinals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n