U.S. National Sled Team Earns 5-3 Victory Over Canada in Para Hockey Cup Preliminary Round
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) scored twice and added an assist to help lead the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team to a 5-2 victory over Canada in the preliminary round of the 2024 Para Hockey Cup at the Bell Aliant Centre.
With the win, the U.S. wraps up preliminary round play as the top seed with a 3-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record, and will play China in the semifinals on Friday (Dec. 13). Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. ET, and the game will stream live here.
“I really liked our effort, it was a great win tonight,” said David Hoff (Bottineau, N.D.), head coach of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. “Our young players got a lot of valuable experience playing in crucial moments and we believe that will pay off for us in the long run.”
Farmer opened the scoring 8:05 into the contest when he beat Canadian goaltender Adam Kingsmill with a deke before capitalizing on a wrist shot.
With 3:15 remaining in the first, Canada’s Adam Dixon knotted the game up at one goal apiece with a wrist shot from the top of the circles.
GAME PHOTOS
U.S. captain Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) scored the go-ahead goal for Team USA 8:05 into the middle frame. Farmer and Josh Misiewicz (La Grange, Ill.) added assists on the play.
Farmer picked up his second tally of the contest just 25 seconds later when he gathered the puck off an offensive-zone faceoff won by Kayden Beasley (Coats, N.C.) and launched a wrister top-shelf past Kingsmill.
Evan Nichols (Haymarket, Va.) extended the U.S. lead with 5:09 to play in the second, batting home a feed from Jack Wallace (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) on the back door.
With 1:47 remaining in the period, Canada’s Auren Halbert scored from a scrum in front of the U.S. net to make it 4-2 heading into the final frame.
Brody Roybal (Northlake, Ill.) capitalized on a power play 4:13 into the third, firing a shot top-corner from the slot off a drop pass from Pauls.
Canada made it a two-goal game late in the third when Tyler McGregor finished a two-on-one chance from the right circle to account for the 5-3 final score.
Jen Lee (San Francisco, Calif.) stopped nine shots, earning the win in goal for the U.S.
NOTES: Team USA outshot Canada 18-12 … The U.S. was 1-2 on the power play, while Canada was 0-3 … Declan Farmer was name U.S. Player of the Game.
Source: usahockey.com