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Team USA Secures Spot in Medal Round; Play Switzerland Tomorrow
BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. goalies Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich./Windsor Spitfires) and Andy Iles (Ithaca, N.Y./Cornell Univ.) combined for a shutout, as the U.S. National Junior Team earned a 4-0 win over Germany here tonight in its third preliminary-round game of the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.
Team USA improved to 2-1-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) and guaranteed itself a spot in the medal round.
"I thought our defense played excellent tonight," said Keith Allain, head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team. "I'm happy with our team game as we move forward, and see us coming together as a unit."
Team USA took a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into the game on the power play. After Jon Merrill (Brighton, Mich./Univ. of Michigan) held the puck in Germany's zone along the far boards, Charlie Coyle (East Weymouth, Mass./Boston Univ.) skated to the slot and snapped a wrist shot past the glove of Germany goalie Niklas Treutle.
Less than one minute later, the U.S. extended its lead to 2-0 when Jerry D'Amigo (Binghamton, N.Y./Toronto Marlies) gloved down a German clearing attempt and fired a wrist shot for a short-side goal.
Merrill extended the U.S. advantage to 3-0 eight minutes into the second period with a seeing-eye shot from the blue line. Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass./Boston College) closed out the scoring five minutes later when he powered a shot home from the slot for Team USA's second power-play goal of the night.
After stopping all 14 shots faced in just over 50 minutes of action, Campbell was replaced by Iles midway through the final period.
Team USA will play its final preliminary-round game of the IIHF World Junior Championship tomorrow (Dec. 31) against Switzerland. Should the U.S. win, it would advance to the semifinal round as Group A's top seed.
