U-17 World Hockey Challenge Roundup: USA, Sweden, Canada Black victorious on Day 1

Steven Ellis
Steven Ellis
U-17 World Hockey Challenge Roundup: USA, Sweden, Canada Black victorious on Day 1
Credit: U17 World Hockey Challenge

It was a wild opening day of the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in British Columbia, with a trio of close games starting things off:

USA avoids collapse in reverse comeback win over Finland

The United States blew an early two-goal lead but managed to secure the win after beating Finland 5-3 to open tournament action.

USA scored a pair of goals to kick things off in the first. At 12:10, Brodie Ziemer scored after he took Kamil Bednarik’s pass and sniped it over the arm of Finnish netminder Petteri Rimpinen. Four minutes later, Cole Eiserman, one of the top 2024 draft prospects, took a feed from his trusty teammate, James Hagens, at the right of the hashmarks and made no mistake beating Rimpinen with the wrister.

The Finns kept the shot count close, trailing 10-9, so it wasn’t a wasted effort. They answered back with a pair of goals for themselves early in the second. First, Joonas Saarelainen’s shot beat Nick Kempf on the man advantage. Then, five minutes into the frame, Roope Vesterinen took Arttu Valila’s feed from beside the Finnish net and scored on the breakaway, tying the game at two apiece.

Before the game hit the halfway mark, the Finns found themselves out front. Julius Miettinen would score after a persistent attempt by the Finnish attack, with Kempf making a good glove stop before it bounced out and eventually made it past the goal line.

The Americans needed a better response in the third, and they got it. At 2:04, Eiserman grabbed his second of the night after finding Shane Vansaghi in front, with Vansaghi beating Rimpinen for the 3-3 goal. Then, on an extended power play due to a double minor, Bednarik scored one of his own to make it 4-3 before the first half of the penalty expired. A late empty-netter from Hagens sealed the deal, with USA holding on after a reverse comeback effort.

Canada Black wins tight affair over Canada Red

Canada Red had 20 more shots, but Canada Black had the extra goal, beating Canada Red 4-3 on the heels of Zayne Parekh’s late game-winner.

Red was the much better team, scoring chance-wise, in the first period, but it was Canada Black that struck first. At 15:12, Cole Beaudoin’s pass bounced off a Red defenseman in front. From there, Clarke Caswell was in position to pick up the loose disk and jammed it in for the 1-0 goal.

But a pair of goals in the first 3:28 of the second period changed the pace of the game. At 22:20, Tarin Smith took Nathan Villeneuve’s pass and fired it on the net, hitting off a stick in front for the power-play goal. Just over a minute later, Michael Misa, the top projected prospect for 2025, scored after taking Berkly Catton’s pass and sending it high over Louka Cloutier for the go-ahead goal.

The teams then swapped goals 10 seconds apart near the end of the frame. At 34:12, Justin Poirier finished off a play from Malcolm Spence and made it 2-2, only for Tomas Mrsic to score at the other end on the very next shot.

Given the back-and-forth nature of the contest, it was far from over. At With about seven minutes to go, defenseman Zayne Parekh used patience to create space for himself before blasting the puck behind Red goaltender Gabriel D’Aigle for the 3-3 goal, tying things up late in regulation.

A late power play ended up giving Black the victory. Parekh, once again, found the back of the net, scoring on a similar wrist shot to beat D’Aigle for the 4-3 victory, the team’s second lead of the game. Canada Red was desperate near the end, but Canada Black held on to steal the victory despite getting outshot by 20.

Sweden tops Canada White

Sweden managed to hold on after a wild end to the night’s closing contest, beating Canada White 3-2.

It took 19:53 of play in the first for someone to crack the scoresheet. After a slow defensive effort by the Swedes, Miguel Marques, late in his own shift, took the puck from his blueline and beat Hugo Laring up high for the 1-0 goal.

The second half of the game was all Sweden, though. On the man advantage at 29:29, Alexander Zetterberg put a perfectly placed wrist shot under the bar and in for the 1-1 goal.

At 41:44, Elliot Sigrell grabbed the puck in the circle to the right of the Canadian net and beat David Egorov with the quick move to make it 2-1.

Canada White needed to do everything it could to get back into the game, and they got luck with 1:16 to go in regulation. Gavin Hodnett was unsuccessful in close for Canada, but Swedish forward Viggo Nordlund shot the puck into his own net and tied the game up at two apiece.

But with 42 seconds left, Sweden got redemption. After Karl Sterner evaded a Canadian attacker, he found Linus Eriksson all alone in front and jammed it in, giving Sweden the victory just seconds after throwing away the lead.

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Three Stars

  1. Zayne Parekh, D (Canada Black): When the game really mattered, Parekh took over. He scored a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes, including the game-winner, and had a couple of solid shutdown plays, too.
  2. Cole Eiserman, F (USA): Sometimes, he makes hockey look way too easy. Tonight was one of those nights, scoring a goal and adding an assist.
  3. Roope Vesterinen, F (Finland): Vesterinen scored his first U-17 national team goal after some solid showings with the U-16 team the past few years. He finished with two points on Thursday.
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