World Junior Summer Showcase: Team USA White Defeats Finland

The opening game of the 2017 World Junior Summer Showcase was won by Team USA White at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.

A very entertaining game between the United States and Finland ended in a 4-2 win for the Americans.

The U.S. split their squads for today’s opening games as they divided their roster into Team USA White and Team USA Blue.

How it Happened

It was the U.S. that grabbed the first lead of the game early in the first period. Evan Barratt received a pass from Casey Mittelstadt and he dispatched it past the goaltender.

Finland would answer later in the opening period as Detroit Red Wings prospect Kasper Kotkansalo would rifle home a shot from the top of the left circle.

Both sides went into the first intermission deadlock at 1-1. The second period had a similar storyline as Team USA White would be the first to score. Jack Budini produced a nice goal to make it 2-1.

A U.S. turnover in their own zone with six minutes remaining would prove to be costly. Finland’s Janne Kuokkanen picked off a pass and fed it to Robin Salo who did very well to score from close range.

An exciting third period loomed as both teams had yet to find a way to gain an advantage. However, the U.S. would get two individual goals in the third to take the win.

The first goal was scored on a nice wraparound effort and finish from Max Gerlach.

Mittelstadt would make it 4-2 with less than 10 minutes remaining. The center made a fantastic one v. one move to put it past the goaltender.

It’s worth noting that highly coveted goaltending prospect Jake Oettinger had a good outing making 10 saves on 11 shots faced.

This was the first of two games on Saturday with USA Blue taking on Sweden in the second game. Team USA White is back in action on Sunday afternoon against Sweden.