KINGSTON, Ontario – Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass./Boston College) had two goals and an assist, while Cole Hutson (North Barrington, Ill./Boston University) added three assists to help the U.S. National Junior Team to a 6-2 victory over Slovakia here tonight at Slush Puppie Placein pre-tournament action ahead of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
The U.S. will play its second and final pre-tournament game on Monday (Dec. 23) in Cornwall, Ontario, at the Cornwall Civic Complex against Finland. Opening faceoff is set for 4 p.m. ET.
“It was good to get a game in as we continue to build for the official start of the World Juniors,” 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. “I thought we certainly did some good things and this will help us as we continue to shape our team.”
Team USA had a 2-0 advantage after the opening 20 minutes. Austin Burnevik (Blaine, Minn./St. Cloud State University) opened the scoring when he put one home at 10:18 from the side of the left circle. Brandon Svoboda (Level Green, Pa./Boston University) and Logan Hensler (Woodbury, Minn./University of Wisconsin) drew assists on the play. Then, with just :12 left in the frame, Leonard wristed a laser from between the circles past Slovakian netminder Alan Lend’ Ak. Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill./Boston College) and Hutson earned assists on the goal. U.S. netminder Hampton Slukynsky (Warroad, Minn./Western Michigan University) was sharp, stopping all seven shots he faced.
GAME PHOTOS
GAME STATS
Slukynsky made three tough saves on point-blank chances in the first 5:00 of the middle frame to maintain the U.S. advantage. Slovakia got on the board at 10:12 after Peter Cisar converted a two-on-one chance. Just 1:13 later the U.S. regained its two-goal advantage thanks to James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y./Boston College), who backhanded one in from the bottom of the right circle off a feed from Teddy Stiga (Sudbury, Mass./Boston College). Leonard then scored with :08 left in the stanza to give the U.S. a 4-1 advantage after 40 minutes.
Slovakia cut the U.S. lead to 4-2 at 6:18 of the final period when Juraj Pekarcik beat Sam Hillebrandt (Riverview, Fla./Barrie) just inside the far post on the glove side on the power play. Trevor Connelly (Tustin, Calif./Providence College) scored from the right circle at 12:54 to make it 5-2 for Team USA before Danny Nelson (Maple Grove, Minn./University or Notre Dame) converted on the power play at 16:11 with help from Brodie Ziemer (Hutchinson, Minn./University of Minnesota) and Hutson.
Slukynsky started in goal for the U.S. and stopped all 13 shots he faced the first half of the contest, while Hillebrandt had 10 saves on 12 shots.
NOTES: The U.S. was 1-3 on the power play, while Slovakia was 1-3 … Each team had 25 shots on goal … Team USA dressed 14 forwards and eight defensemen for the game along with goaltenders Slukynsky and Hillebrandt … A total of 12 different players recorded points in the contest.
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Source: usahockey.com