United States 4, Canada West 1 – Rath Eastlink Community Centre
The United States scored four unanswered goals to beat Canada West in their pre-tournament opener.
Rylan Brown of the Okotoks Oilers scored the lone goal for Canada West with the assists going to Sherwood Park Crusader Ryan Zaremba and Brooks Bandits Dylan Compton at 6:27 of the second period.
Team USA got goals from Chris Pelosi (Sewell, NJ/Sioux Falls, USHL), Trevor Connelly (Tustin, CA/Tri City, USHL), James Reeder (Glenview, IL/Dubuque, USHL), and Andrew Strathmann (Beach Park, IL/Youngstown, USHL).
For team USA 18 year old Hampton Slukynsky from Warroad, Minnesota who plays with the Fargo Force of the USHL made 16 stops on the 17 shots that he faced for 40 the 40 minutes in which he played. 17 year old Caleb Heil who is from Victoria, Minnesota and plays for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL stopped all 11 shots that he faced in the 20 minutes that he played.
Eric Roest (Lethbridge, AB/Sherwood Park, AJHL) and Johnny Hicks (Kamloops, BC/Brooks, AJHL) split the game and combined to make 30 saves.
Alexander Dimitriadis was named an Assistant Captain of Team Canada West. Captain is Jack Silverberg of the Okotoks Oilers the other assistant is Dominic Payne from the Sherwood Park Crusaders. Canada West’s Complete Roster can be found here. Canada West’s next game is against Sweden December 12th which opens up the tournament.