USA BLUE

7-1

FINLAND

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings – USA White: 

[one_half]Farabee – Turcotte – Caufield
McLaughlin – Pinto – Brink
Beecher – Grudein – Ford
Toporowski – Lindmark – Loheit[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Samuelsson – Johnson
York – Emberson
Krygier – Stastney[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Knight
Saville

Scratches:

Forward lines and defense pairings – Finland: 

[one_half]Haatanen – Lundell – Oden
Killinen – Kivenmaki – Erholtz
Ranta – Saarela – Petman
Salonen – Tanus – Puistola[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Nousiainen – Thomson
Seppala – Honka
Utunen – Salmela[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Patrikainen
Annunen

Scratches:

Game Report

USA Blue took to the ice again on Sunday, this time wearing white jerseys due to their opponent, Finland, also wearing blue. The Blue team had defeated Sweden on the previous day 4-2 and was looking to repeat.

The opening period was fast right out of the gate, but relatively disciplined. USA Blue took two penalties in the first half of the period, but the American penalty kill proved to be highly skilled. Finland’s power play units had difficulty maintaining the offensive zone and took few shots on net.

Jon Gruden then found the back of the net first when he tipped in a point shot by Christian Krygier. Then Joel Farabee scored his first of the tournament as he skated the puck practically end-to-end, deked around a defenseman, and put the puck through Jasper Patrikainen five-hole.

But Finland, as they did yesterday, didn’t stay quiet. Sampo Ranta got a goal back for his team with a nice shot in the slot through traffic to make it 2-1 USA heading into the first intermission.

Flyers first-round pick Cam York continued the scoring for USA Blue just one minute into the second frame when he took a perfectly-placed pass from Cole Caufield and one-timed the puck from the center point on the blue line to make it 3-1 for the Americans.

The top line continued to prove their worth and their chemistry throughout the period as they maintained consistent offensive pressure in the Finland zone, and got plenty of high-danger shots on net. Farabee finished the frame with a quick backhander low in the circle with less than a minute on the clock to give USA Blue a three-goal lead.

John Beecher continued his impressive play when he scored two back-to-back goals in the third period, just 33 seconds apart. He first tipped in another Krygier point shot, then found mesh on a perfectly placed wrister from the circle. Shane Pinto finished the scoring for the day with a top shelf shot in close to give USA Blue a 7-1 victory over Finland.

Teams will have off on Monday from game action and will spend time on the ice practicing. Team Canada will debut in a matchup against the USA on Tuesday afternoon.

Plus/Minus

▲    Joel Farabee, John Beecher, Cole Caufield, Cam York, Sampo Ranta

▼

Stars of the Game

Highlights provided by USA Hockey

World Junior Showcase Recap | USA Blue – SWE: USA Defends Early Lead Over Sweden https://t.co/rJivIV7g3C pic.twitter.com/Jx30w7ZL96

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) July 27, 2019

World Junior Showcase Recap | USA White – FIN: Finland Completes Comeback Win https://t.co/71ngpirTNG pic.twitter.com/s99gx6YKcc

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) July 27, 2019

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