U.S. National Sled Team Tops China 10-1 in Para Hockey Cup Opener
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The U.S. National Sled Hockey Team had seven different players score in a 10-1 victory over China in the opening preliminary round contest of the 2024 Para Hockey Cup at the Bell Aliant Centre.
“I thought it was a really good start to the tournament,” said David Hoff (Bottineau, N.D.), head coach of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. “The first five minutes were a bit of a slow start, but once we settled in we moved the puck well and it was overall a strong way to get this tournament underway.”
Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) opened the scoring at the 6:18 mark backhanding home the go-ahead tally to ignite a rapid-fire series of goals from the Team USA. Kayden Beasley (Coats, N.C.) picked up an assist on the play.
Just 30 seconds later, Farmer scored his second of the contest with helpers from Brett Bolton (Rockledge, Fla.) and Malik Jones (Aurora, Colo.), stickhandling past several defenders before launching the puck past China goaltender, Wei Wang.
Brody Roybal (Northlake, Ill.) made it a 3-0 game 23 seconds later when he wrapped around the China net and fired home a spinning wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle.
GAME PHOTOS
With 2:48 to play in the opening frame, David Eustace (Stoneham, Mass.) collected a feed from Noah Grove (Frederick, Md.) in the neutral zone and skated hard in towards the net on a breakaway. He capitalized from just outside the crease to give Team USA a 4-0 lead.
Kevin McKee (Davenport, Iowa) added to the advantage 7:14 into the middle stanza, and just 34 seconds later Josh Misiewicz (La Grange, Ill.) scored to make it a 6-0 game.
Eustace picked up his second goal of the game with 4:09 remaining in the period to give the U.S. a 7-0 lead.
China’s Jintao Tian capitalized on an odd-man rush 6:22 into the final frame to make it a 7-1 game.
With 7:55 to go in the contest, Roybal forced a turnover in the offensive zone and threaded a pass to Evan Nichols (Haymarket, Va.) as he careened towards the goal, who batted the puck home to give the U.S. an 8-1 advantage.
Chris Douglas (Saint Cloud, Fla.) made it a 9-1 contest with 1:37 to play, rifling a shot past Wang from the top of the circles off a feed from Jack Wallace (Franklin Lakes, N.J)
With just over a minute remaining, Grove found Nichols on the back door with a saucer pass from the point, and Nichols redirected the puck over the goal line the account for the 10-1 final.
Jen Lee (San Francisco, Calif.) picked up the win in goal for the U.S., stopping 10 shots in his season debut.
The U.S. will take on Czechia tomorrow in its second preliminary round contest at the Bell Aliant Centre. Puck drop is set for 11 a.m. local/10 a.m. ET, and the game will live stream here.
NOTES: Team USA outshot China 20-11 … The U.S. was 1-2 on the power play, while China was 0-2. Jack Wallace was named U.S. Player of the Game.
Source: usahockey.com