Whitelaw and Strathman post 3-point games against Germany as Team USA earns its first win of Hlinka Gretzky Cup preliminary play.
RED DEER, Alta. –Whitelaw and Strathman both finished with 3 points and the
American powerplay went 3 for 6 in an 8-1 win over Germany in prelimary
round action at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The U.S. opened scoring early with a quick unassisted score from Will
Whitelaw, his first of two on the night. Carey Terrance extended the lead
just minutes later, to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.
Joe Connor capitalized on the German penalty early in the second to extend
the Americans lead. Joe Gramer added another but German special teams came
up big as Linus Brendl scored a shorthanded goal to cut into the Americans
lead.
Will McDonagh, Andrew Strathman, Griffen Erdman added goals before Whitelaw
tallied his second of the night late in the third period.
German goaltenders Nico Petuch and Dean Doge combined for 41 saves while
team USA goaltender Calvin Vachon allowed 1 goal on 14 shots.
On the team’s focus while leading Whitelaw says, “we all want to get better
and tournaments like these you never know how it goes. To make it to the
medal round you have to win and you want to win by as much as you can to
make sure there’s guarantees when everything comes down to it.”
The Americans will be back in action on Monday against Finland (3 p.m. MT),
while the Germans play in primetime against Czechia on Monday evening (7:00p.m. MT).
