Unice Receives Praise for World Under 18 Tourney

[Falcon Fanatic]

From Paul Shaheen's Research On Ice Article:
(ROI is a weekly email article with updates on hockey recruiting)

Tuesday April 24, 2007

Regrets as we had a computer issue on Monday.

Thankfully, all is resolved. So while you're likely well aware of Team USA's 6-5 heartbreaking loss to Russia on Sunday in the gold medal game of the World Under 18's, we thought it right to finish our coverage just the way we started it, with releases from USA Hockey and Canadian Press.

Canada fell in the bronze medal game to Sweden. The story of that game lies below.

As for the Americans, we can say this: It was a coming out party of sorts for Bowling Green bound netminder Josh Unice (6-1, 155/June of 1989), who among others was exceptional throughout.

Unice has been a very good netminder for a long time, but his performance in Finland was something special.

A few weeks ago, we suggested Bowling Green's overall recruiting picture wasn't of the same calibre as its competitors, especially intrastate rival Miami of Ohio. In this case, we can say acquisition of Unice is becoming more and more a steal, and for Bowling Green's sake, here's hoping Unice's arrival can help spark a renaissance in northern Ohio.

Now the release from USA Hockey:

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U.S. National Under-18 Team Claims Silver Medal at IIHF World Under-18 Championship

Wilson's Two Goals Not Enough to Top Russia

TAMPERE, Finland - The U.S. National Under-18 Team's bid for three consecutive gold medals at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship fell short at the Tampere Hakametsa tonight when it when it dropped a 6-5 decision to Russia in the gold medal game at the 2007 IIHF World Under-18 Championship.

"I am extremely proud of the way our guys competed in this tournament," said Ron Rolston, head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team. "We battled hard throughout the event and gave ourselves a chance to win a gold medal, but we ran into a very good Russian team in the gold-medal game. There are many very good teams in this tournament and I am pleased with the way that our guys represented our country."

Team USA opened the scoring 1:31 into the contest when C.J. Severyn (Beaver, Pa.) beat Russian netminder Alexander Pechurskiy with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle. Vinny Saponari (Powder Springs, Ga.) then gave the United States a 2-0 lead at the 6:13 mark with a shorthanded goal. Matt Rust (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) found Saponari in the neutral zone, who skated in all alone and beat Pechurskiy with a wrist shot over his catching glove.

Russia replied with two goals in the next 5:20 to even the game. Andrey Lokitonov batted in a loose puck during a scramble in front of U.S. netminder Josh Unice (Toledo, Ohio) at 7:44, followed by a Sergey Korostin snap shot from the right circle that deflected off the left goalpost and into the net at 11:33 to knot the game at 2-2. Following its first goal, Russia elected to replace Pechurskiy with netminder Vadim Zhelobnyuk.

Team USA regained the lead at the 18:27 mark of the opening period when Jordan Schroeder (Lakeville, Minn.) found linemate Colin Wilson (Greenwich, Conn.), who proceeded to beat Zhelobnyuk and give the United States a 3-2 advantage at the end of the first period.

Russia evened the game 3:59 into the second frame when Dmitry Kugryshev beat Unice from deep in the U.S. end to make it a 3-3 contest. Eight minutes into the period, Team USA thought they had scored on a scramble in front of the Russian net, but play continued. Seconds later, Russia gained its first lead of the game when Korostin made a pass from behind Team USA's net to Nikita Klyukin, who buried the feed to give Russia a 4-3 advantage.

James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) closed out the second-period scoring and made it a 4-4 game at the 10:37 mark when he batted a puck out of the air from the left side of the net.

Alexi Cherepanov scored Russia's fifth goal at the 11:52 mark of the third period. Russia cycled the puck deep in the U.S. zone before Chereponov skated out from behind the U.S. net and put the puck underneath the crossbar to give Russia a 5-4 lead. Egor Averin made it a 6-4 contest at 17:45 when he put a shot between Unice's pads.

Team USA pulled Unice with 1:11 remaining and applied heavy pressure before Wilson notched his second goal of the contest with six seconds remaining to make it a one-goal game. However, Russia held on during the closing seconds to earn a 6-5 victory.

The U.S. National Under-18 Team swept the Directorate Awards, as vanRiemsdyk was named the Best Forward of the tournament, Shattenkirk earned Best Defenseman honors and Unice took home Best Goaltender laurels. The trio was also named to the six-player All-Tournament Team.

NOTES: Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Shattenkirk and Unice were named Team USA's three best players of the tournament . Wilson and vanRiemsdyk tied for the tournament lead in points with 12 (5-7) apiece . The United States has played in four consecutive gold-medal games at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship and has captured two gold medals (2005, 2006) and two silver medals (2004, 2007) in that span . The United States and Russia have claimed the last four IIHF World Under-18 Championships.

SCORING SUMMARY
Scoring By Period
RUS 2-2-2 -- 6
USA 3-1-1 -- 5

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Severyn (Vargas), 1: 31; 2, USA, Saponari (Rust), 6:13 (sh); 3, RUS, Loktionov (Kugryshev, Voinov), 7:44; 4, RUS, Korostin (Kagaritskiy), 11:33; 5, USA, Wilson (vanRiemsdyk, Schroeder), 18:47. Penalties - USA, O'Brien (hooking), 5: 43; USA, Vaive (tripping), 8:43.

Second Period - Scoring: 6, RUS, Kugryshev (Filatov), 3:59; 7, RUS, Klyukin (Andronov, Korostin), 8:00; 8, USA, vanRiemsdyk (Wilson, Schroeder), 10:37. Penalties - RUS, Seleznev (tripping), 0:37; RUS, Filatov (hooking), 11:21;

Third Period - Scoring: 9, RUS, Chereponov (Karamnov, Petrov), 11:52; 10, RUS, Averin (Kulikov), 17:45; 11, USA, Wilson (Farichild, vanRiemsdyk), 19:54. Penalties - RUS, Tokranov (kneeing), 2:47.

Shots By Period 1 2 3 TOTAL
RUS 7 9 8 24
USA 7 1316 36

Goaltending (SH-SV) 1 2 3 TOTAL
RUS, Pechurskiy (7:44) 3-1 x-x x-x 3-1
RUS, Zhelobnyuk (42:16) 4-3 13-12 16-15 33-30
USA, Unice (58:49) 7-5 9-7 8-6 24-18

Power Play: RUS 0-2; USA 0-3
Penalties: RUS 3-6; USA 2-4

Attendance: 2,279
Officials: Kyle Rehman(CAN); Linesmen- Fredirik Carlman (SWE), Antti Orelma (FIN)


2007 U.S. National Under-18 Team Schedule

April 12-22 . Tampere & Rauma, Finland

Date Opponent Location Time (EDT)/Result

April 7 Switzerland* Sakyla L, 4-3
April 8 Finland* Rauma T, 4-4
April 12 Russia Rauma L, 5-3
April 13 Germany Rauma W, 9-1
April 15 Canada Rauma L, 3-2 (so)
April 17 Latvia Rauma W, 8-0
April 19 Slovakia Tampere W, 7-2
April 20 Canada Tampere W, 4-3 (so)
April 22 Russia Gold-Medal GameTampere L, 5-4

*Exhibition Game

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And now more on Canada from Canadian Press:

TAMPERE, Finland (CP) - Canadian hockey teams often fizzle out when playing for bronze, and the world under-18 team was no exception in dropping an 8-3 decision to Sweden on Sunday.

Canada finished fourth.

Russia defeated the United States 6-5 to win gold. It was Russia's first podium finish since winning gold in 2004, and it ruined the U.S. bid for a third straight championship.

Canada's 4-3 heartbreaker of a loss to the Americans in the semifinals Friday deflated coach Trent Yawney's players. Bronze hadn't been on their menu.

" We were in it to win it," said Yawney. "The game against the U.S. with all that electricity, they really believed they were going to win that game.


"We tried like hell to keep them refocused for (the game for bronze) but it's difficult with going home right around the corner and the fact you're not playing for the gold, which you were coming for in the first place."

Canada also lost third-place games in this tournament in 2004 and in 2006, both times to the Czech Republic. NHL stars have had similar experiences. With gold gone at the 1998 Olympics, Canada was flat in losing to Finland in the game for bronze. Europeans seem to place more importance on the lesser medals than do Canadians.

Regardless, Yawney has no regrets.

"This isn't going to take away from the memories," he said. "This was a special group.

"They deserved better, but they'll take this experience and be better players and better people for it."

Canada remains without a medal in the under-18 tournament since winning silver in 2005. It has won the title once, in 2003.

Sweden led 2-0 after one period and Canada tied it on goals by Angelo Esposito of the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts and Drew Doughty of the OHL's Guelph Storm.

The turning point came with one second remaining in the second period when Mikael Backlund's first of three goals broke a 2-2 tie and sent Sweden ahead to stay.

"We had a bad (line) change with three seocnds left and allowed a pretty good shot on net," said Yawney. "That kind of took a little wind out of our sails.

"We'd gained some momentum and to get a goal scored that late in a period in a game of that magnitude, it's difficult for players, especially young players, to recover.

Sweden scored five consecutive goals in the third period before Esposito completed the scoring.

A dejected group of Canadian teens watched the Swedes celebrate.

"I'm not going to let one game be the judge of this group," said Yawney. "They've been a terrific group to work with.

"The residual effect from the U.S. game was pretty apparent, and the Swedes played better than us."

Trevor Cann of the OHL's Peterborough Petes was replaced by Braden Holtby of the WHL"s Saskatoon Blades after Sweden went ahead 6-2 in the third, but Yawney commended Cann for his work throughout the tournament.

"He gave us a chance, especially down the stretch, and played very, very well," said Yawney. "Throughout this whole thing, the star of the team was the team.

"Unfortunately, in the end we probably tended to get too much individualistic as opposed to playing our strong team game that got us to that point. You can't compete as individuals in a tournament like this against a team functioning as a team."

The Canadians fly home Monday.

In the final, the U.S. led 2-0 on goals by C.J. Severyn and Vinny Saponari in the first seven minutes. Russia tied it 2-2 on goals by Andrei Loktionov and Sergei Korostin, and Colin Wilson's goal gave the Americans a 3-2 lead after one period.

Russia jumped ahead on goals by Dmitry Kugryshev and Nikita Klyukin, and James vanRiemsdyk tied it 4-4 at 10:37 of the second period.

Alexei Cherepanov put Russia ahead 5-4 at 11:52 of the third, and Egor Averin made it 6-4. With goalie Josh Unice on the bench for an extra skater, the U.S. got a goal from Wilson with six seconds left.

[Rightupinthere]

I need a break from my class work. I read "ROI" and I immediately thought "return on investment."


Gunga need vacation. Ugh.

[JoeFalcon]

Nice article!

I heard that his teammate on the NTDP, Brennan Vargas, has recently committed to BG for 2007 as well.