LetsGoDU

R & R Lead USA White Over Sweden 9-2
DU Players Rack Up A Goal & Assist Each

From: USA Hockey Website

(left) Tyler Ruegsegger (#19) of Team USA White battles for position with a Team Finland player during an exhibition game in Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York. Ruegsegger has a goal and 5 assists in the camp.

Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Two U.S. teams comprised of the top 45 players under the age of 20 swept Under-20 teams from Sweden and Finland yesterday at USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp. USA White defeated Sweden, 9-2, in the first game, while USA Blue beat Finland, 4-1, in the nightcap.
.
USA White struck first in the early game when Ben Ryan beat Sweden goalie Eddie Lack with a low slap shot to the stick side with just over five minutes remaining in the first period. Goaltender Joe Palmer stopped all 10 shots he faced in the period to give USA White a 1-0 lead heading into the second.

Cade Fairchild (Duluth, Minn.) scored a power-play goal just 20 seconds into the second period after his shot from the point ricocheted off the post and in. Minutes later, Mark Arcobello’s no-look pass found defenseman T.J. Brennan, who snapped a shot past the outstretched glove of Lack to give USA White a 3-0 lead. Sweden scored two goals less than two minutes apart midway through the stanza and trailed 3-2 after two periods.

In the final frame, Kyle Okposo (St. Paul, Minn.) tallied his fourth goal of the camp when he tapped a rebound into the open net after Lack stopped Jonathon Blum’s slap shot from the right point. Later in the third, Okposo passed to a streaking Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.), who slid the puck between Lack’s pads to make it a 5-2 game. Arcobello notched his third point of the game when he intercepted a pass, split two Sweden defensemen, and lifted the puck over Lack’s shoulder for a shorthanded goal. USA White scored three more times with goals by Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Blum and Doug Rogers to account for the 9-2 final.

Palmer picked up the win with 24 saves for USA White. Arcobello and Okposo finished the game with three points each. Okposo leads all point-getters in the camp, with seven (4-3).