USA Opens Up WJC’s With 6-1 Victory Over Latvia

Despite giving their opponents a chance early, the United States were able to take down Latvia 6-1 to open up the 2017 World Juniors in Toronto, Ontario.

There was no question that the Americans were the stronger team, allowing just a single shot in the first ten minutes. After not getting a goal on their first power-play opportunity, Nashville Predators prospect Patrick Harper got the game going with a wrist shot that bounced off a defender and in, giving USA the early 1-0 advantage.

Latvia's netminder, Mareks Mitens, was the star early on, making six saves in the first ten minutes. While the count may haven't been that high, the chances were all dangerous around the net and he made his presence known early.

Latvia didn't do much offensively, taking just two shots on net in the first, but they surely made it count. At 15:22, Oshawa Generals forward Renars Krastenbergs found the puck off of a line change and broke in all alone. Krastenbergs made it look easy, beating Tyler Parsons with the backhand to make it 1-1 heading into the first intermission.

The Latvians were the much stronger team to start the second period, with multiple odd-man chances early in the frame. But a defensive breakdown on a rush towards their own net changed the score of the game. Colin White would score on a partial breakaway after grabbing the puck from Tage Thompson and backhanding it over Mitens, giving the Americans the 2-1 lead. 

The Latvians were really slowing down by the end of the second, and it showed. Some nice, tight work by Thompson and White around the net kept the play from leaving the zone and resulted in Clayton Keller finding the loose puck to the right side of the Latvian net. Keller, a dynamite goal scorer in the NCAA, made no mistake jamming it on the side, giving USA the 3-1 lead after two periods.

USA wouldn't let down, scoring three times before the end of the game. At 52:19, Clayton Keller used his tremendous shot that Mitens had no chance of stopping, giving Latvia the 4-1 advantage. Then, with three minutes to go, Jeremy Bracco took advantage of fellow Toronto Maple Leafs prospect sitting in the box to score on the PP. Finally, in the final minute, Jordan Greenway picked up a rebound in the slot and finished off the onslaught, giving USA the 6-1 victory on Monday.

With the win, the United States will focus their efforts to December 28th when they take on Slovakia at 7:30 PM EST. Latvia, however, will have to get right back into action with a 4:00 PM start against Russia on Tuesday.

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Photo from Anders Marshall/EuroHockey.com.

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