Team USA beats team Finland in US Junior national camp; San Jose Sharks' pick Sean Kuraly impresses
Sean Kuraly, who plays for Miami University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and was selected 133rd overall in the 5th round of the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) draft, has shown an impressive performance in
the US National Team’s Hockey junior evaluation camp.
19-year-old Kuraly’s performance helped Team USA register a, 5-2, convincing win over Finland side in a match, which was played at Herb Brooks Arena.
From team USA, first, second, third, fourth and fifth goals were scored by Stefan Matteau, Sean Kuraly, John Gaudreau, Nicolas Kerdiles and Stefan Noesen respectively, whereas from team Finland, both of the goals were scored by Miro Aaltonen.
Team USA opened the scoring when Stefan Matteau scored for them in the 15th minute of the first period but Aaltonen equalised three minutes later by scoring in the 18th minute for Finland. It remained 1-1 at the end of first period.
The game remained levelled until 14th minute of the second period but then Kuraly scored a fantastic goal to give Team US the lead once again and 3 minutes later Gaudreau scored one more for Team US to increase the lead for them.
However, Aaltonen once again resisted and reduced the deficit for team Finland by scoring his second goal in the 18th minute for Finland. It remained 3-2 until end of second period.
In the third period, USA completely dominated the show and took advantage of Finland’s getting tired. They scored in the 15th minute through Nicolas Kerdiles to take a lead of 4-2 and soon after it, completely finished it off by scoring a goal
through Stefan Noesen and taking a 5-2 lead in the 17th minutes, which remained until the end of match.
Head coach of US National junior team for 2013 World championships, Phil Housley was very happy with his team performance and said,
"I was really pleased the way we played the second half of the game. I thought early we turned the puck over but we seemed to settle down and we took what was given. We were able to get some really good pressure in the zone and capitalize on some transition
goals. Overall I really liked our effort."
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