This afternoon Team U.S.A. rebounded from an opening tournament loss to Iroquois on Friday night, to defeat the Czech Republic 14-7, and even their record at 1-1.
The United States came out on a mission. After allowing an opening minute goal to the Czech Republic, Team U.S.A. went on their first six goal run of the game that only took 4:53 of playing time. That was basically all they needed to take full control of the contest.
First it was Garett Thul with a laser from 20 feet away, then Jeff Ratcliffe put one in on a beautiful crease dive, then Kevin Buchanan, Marcus Holman and Don Moss all scored in 1:22 and slowly the Poulin-wall started to crumble for the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic pulled within three at 7-4 with just over ten minutes to play in the first half, and then it happened again. Another six goal run, five of them to end the first half. The first two coming ten seconds apart with Buchanan and Holman netting the goals, Joel White would score a couple minutes later, and then Homan and Thul would score 47 seconds apart. Thul’s goal would come with two seconds to go in the half as Team U.S.A. would go into the break up 12-4.
The defense for the Americans came up huge in this game by not only allowing starting goalie Jake Henhawk to see the shots, but by also staying on top of the Czech offense. One downside was three of the seven goals were low rug burners through the five hole of Henhawk. Other then that the defense was solid.
The Czech offense was led by Radek Skala (2G/2A), as the Czech Republics record is now even at 1-1. Mike Poulin stopped 14-27 shots in 45 minutes of playing time, Jakub Mares played the final quarter stopping 11-12.
For Team U.S.A., Jake Henhawk stopped 13-17 in three quarters of play, and David Mather stopped 5-8.
Team U.S.A. won 17-25 face offs, as Costabile and Reynolds shared the duties. U.S.A. also dominated the ground balls 80-49. U.S.A took 68 shots, 49 on goal and 19 off goal, while the Czech Republic had 41 shots taken with 25 hitting the goal.
Team U.S.A. was led by Garrett Thul, Kevin Buchanan, and Marcus Holman, all had hat tricks. Buchanan and Holman also had an assist. Joe Walters (1G/5A) and Joel White (1G/3A) did their part in the victory.
U.S.A. was without Casey Powell for the second straight game, but expect the Ageless wonder to be ready for action for the rest of the tournament. Also scratched was Joe Resetarits.
United States faces England Monday at 4:30, then finishes off the round robin set of games with a battle against Canada Tuesday 7:30.
