BRECLAV, Czech Republic – Ryan Poehling (Lakeville, Minn.) scored with 24 seconds left in overtime to give the U.S. Under-18 Select Team a 4-3 victory over Finland in the opening game of the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in Breclav, Czech Republic.
“Our team is resilient,” said Clark Donatelli (Providence, R.I.), head coach of the 2016 U.S. Under-18 Select Team. “We played really well in executing our system and our leadership group did a great job.”
Vanya Lodnia (Novi, Mich.) opened the scoring for Team USA at 15:31 of the first period. Sasha Chmelevski (Northville, Mich.) gathered a loose puck and flipped a backhand pass to Lodnia, who beat Finland goaltender Lasse Lehtinen for the score.
USA Hockey
Pre-Game, USA vs. Finland
Post-game handshakes, USA vs. Finland
A happy ending, USA 4, Finland 3 (OT)