CORNWALL, Ontario – Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill./Boston College) and James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y./Boston College) each registered three assists to help the U.S. National Junior Team to a 5-2 victory over Finland here today before a capacity crowd at the Cornwall Civic Complex in pre-tournament action ahead of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
The U.S. will open preliminary round play in the IIHF World Junior Championship on Thursday (Dec. 26) against Germany at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. Opening faceoff is 2:30 p.m. ET and all U.S. games can be seen live on NHL Network.
“We took some positive steps forward today against a good Finland team,” said David Carle, head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team and also the head men’s ice hockey coach at the University of Denver. “We’ll enjoy a day off and get back at it on Christmas day to make sure we’re ready to open the tournament against Germany.”
The U.S. controlled play in the first period and got the only goal of the opening 20 minutes. It came at 14:54 when Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass./Boston College) wristed one to the back of the net from between the circles. James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y./Boston College) started the play at the left point and fed Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill./Boston College) in the corner who quickly got it to Leonard.
GAME PHOTOS
GAME STATS
Joey Willis (Elmhurst, Ill./Saginaw Spirit) staked the U.S. to a 2-0 lead at 5:25 of the middle frame when he fired one in from the high slot. Finland got on the board with just :05 left in their first power play thanks to Kasper Halttunen at 7:42, but the U.S. took control with three straight tallies to build a 5-1 advantage after 40 minutes. Zeev Buium (San Diego, Calif./University of Denver) got the third U.S. marker just :31 after the Finland goal on a tic-tac-toe scoring play with Perreault and Hagens. Austin Burnevik (Blaine, Minn./St. Cloud State) put one home from the low slot on the power play at 10:38 to make it 4-1 before Carey Terrance (Akwesasne, N.Y./Erie Otters), who grew up just 10 minutes from the Cornwall Civic Complex, found the back of the net with 1:33 left in the period, a goal which drew the loudest ovation of the night.
Halttunen got his second of the night on a penalty shot at 12:26 of the third to account for the 5-2 final.
Trey Augustine (South Lyon, Mich./Michigan State University) played the first two periods in the net for Team USA and made 10 saves, while Hampton Slukynsky (Warroad, Minn./Western Michigan University) had six stops in the third period.
NOTES: The U.S. was 1-2 on the power play, while Finland was 1-3 … Team USA outshot Finland by a 30-18 count … Team USA dressed 14 forwards and eight defensemen for the game along with goaltenders Augustine and Slukynsky … Team USA won both of its pre-tournament games in advance of the 2025 World Juniors, including a 6-2 victory over Slovakia on Saturday (Dec. 21) in Kingston, Ont.
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Source: usahockey.com