Whitelaw, Brown and Sharp led the way with pair of goals each as the Americans blanked the Slovaks in pre-tournament play
RED DEER, Alta. –Calvin Vachon and Hampton Slukynsky combined for a 20-save
shutout as the United States scored an 8-0 win over Slovakia on Friday
afternoon in the opening pre-tournament game ahead of the Hlinka Gretzky
Cup.
The U.S. opened the scoring early with a quick unassisted marker from Will
Whitelaw just 1:47 into the game. It was outshooting Slovakia 11-2 midway
through the first period when Connor Brown extended the lead on the penalty
kill with a sharp angle shot to make it 2-0.
A snipe from defenceman Zack Sharp early in the second gave the Americans a
3-0 lead as they continued to dominate the play, and Tanner Adams shovelled
in the 4-0 goal out of a logjam in front of the Slovakian net.
Brown scooped up a rebound to notch his second of the game early in the
third period as the Americans continued to pour it on. Carey Terrance had
an easy tap-in on a cross-crease pass from Andrew Strathmann and another
impressive individual effort from Whitelaw resulted in his second of the
game. Sharp finished the scoring with his second of the day with just over
five minutes to go.
Vachon turned aside all 10 shots he faced in his 32 minutes of work before
giving way to Slukynsky, who also made 10 stops.
Samuel Urban kept his team in the game with a 24-save performance in the
first two periods before Damian Slavik allowed four goals on 13 shots in
the final frame.
The U.S. opens the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup on Sunday against Germany (3
p.m. MT), while the Slovakians get started against Sweden on Monday morning
(11 a.m. MT).
