The U.S. National Junior Team finished fourth in the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship after a 4-2 loss to Russia today in the bronze medal game of the event.<\/p>\n
“It was disappointing to finish the way we did after such a good start in this tournament,” said U.S. Head Coach John Hynes. “We lacked the intensity we needed today.”<\/p>\n
Russia jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the opening period. Alexei Cherepanov put home a backhanded shot in front at 3:59 for the game’s opening goal. With Russia on the power play, a shot from the center point by Evgeni Kurbatov deflected off the skate of U.S. defenseman Chris Summers (Michigan) and past netminder Jeremy Smith (Plymouth (OHL)) at 11:04. A cross-crease feed by Cherepanov found Nikita Filatov at 16:57 for the final tally of the period.<\/p>\n
Filatov put home a rebound on the power play past U.S. netminder Joe Palmer (Ohio State) 1:30 into the second stanza to increase Russia’s lead to 4-0. Team USA got on the board at 10:47 when Rhett Rakhshani (Denver) maneuvered in front after a feed from Kyle Okposo (St. Paul, Minn.) and beat Sergei Bobrovsky high to the glove side. Russia had a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
Jordan Schroeder (U.S. National Under-18 Team) had a terrific chance from between the circles for Team USA five minutes into the period, but Bobrovsky was up to the challenge. Schroeder, however, did score at 13:39 from the high slot through traffic with the United States on a five-on-three power play. Bobby Sanguinetti (Brampton (OHL)) drew the lone assist on the play. Team USA continued to put pressure on down the stretch, but could get no closer.<\/p>\n
Smith had five saves in the first period for Team USA, while Palmer played the final two periods and had 16 stops. Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for Russia.<\/p>\n
NOTES: The United States finished fourth in the World Junior Championship, with four wins and two losses in its six games … Team USA’s Player of the Game was Bobby Sanguinetti … James vanRiemsdyk (New Hampshire), Chris Summers (Michigan) and Colin Wilson (Boston University) were named Team USA’s best three players of the tournament … The United States has played for either the gold or bronze medal in the World Junior Championship for a U.S.-record six straight years … James vanRiemsdyk finished as Team USA’s leading point getter with 5-6–11. He scored a goal in five of Team USA’s six games … Colin Wilson was Team USA’s top goal scorer with six, including a natural hat trick in the preliminary round against Finland … Jordan Schroeder (U.S. National Under-18 Team) had seven assists to pace Team USA … The 2009 World Junior Championship will be played in Ottawa, Ontario. The United States will host the event in 2011 at a site-to-be-determined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.S. National Junior Team finished fourth in the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship after a 4-2 loss to Russia today in the bronze medal game of the event. “It was disappointing to finish the way we did after such a good start in this tournament,” said U.S. Head Coach John Hynes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n