USA uses fast start to beat Sweden in Junior Camp Opener

The United States Started the Game Schedule of the USA Hockey Junior Evaluation Camp as the team is starting to begin in their preps to defend the Gold Medal at the 2011 World Junior Championships which will be in Buffalo, NY which starts the Day After Christmas. A 4 goal 1st period put the Americans over the top en route to a 6-3 victory over last year's Bronze Medalists Sweden.

Two players with Texas Ties, Dallas Stars first Round Jack Campbell and Flower Mound Native Chris Brown both made it to this point in the camp. Campbell had another strong day by stopping 24 of 27 shots while Brown was starched to make the IIHF Roster Requirements.

The Americans have 28 players at this point of the camp, but only 22 will play at a time. Each player will probably be stracthed once to meet these requirements and to rest players when needed.

Next up for the USA will be the first of two games against Finland at 3:00 PM while the Americans will play Sweden again on on August 6.

Here's the Profiles for both Players on the USA Hockey website to better track their progress during the camp.

Jack Campbell

Chris Brown

Press Release from the USA Hockey Website: www.usahockey.com

From Lake Placid, NY: The United States scored four times in the first five minutes of play en route to a 6-3 win over Sweden in its first of four international games here at the 2010 USA Hockey National Evaluation Camp.

The contest featured 22 of the 28 players currently participating in the camp and auditioning for a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team that will take part in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships, Dec. 26 thru Jan. 5 2011, in Buffalo, NY.

"I thought we had a good all-around effort," said Keith Allain, head coach of the 2011 U.S. National Junior Team. "We need to improve on our systems, but this is the first time in a long time a lot of these guys have played together, and this camp will prepare us for December."

Jason Zucker got the U.S. on the board less then 90 seconds into the game when he drove to the front of the net, shielded off a Swedish Defensemen and lifted a shot past Goalie Robin Lehner.

The U.S. then crashed in on consecutive Swedish penalties, as defensemen Derek Forbort and Justin Faulk notched power-play goals with wrist shots above the faceoff circles. Charlie Coyle then scored at the 4:05 mark of the first to complete Team USA's early Scoring Spree.

Sweden trimmed the U.S. lead to 4-3 with a late first period goal and a pair of goals in the second. But Faulk's 2nd period power play goal of the game midway through the 3rd period gave the U.S. some breathing room, and Brock Nelson's late empty net goal closed out the scoring.

Jack Campbell made 24 saves in the victory, while Swedish Goalies Lehner and Fredrik Petterson-Wentzel turned aside 18 shots in the loss.

The U.S. will be back in action tomorrow at 4PM EDT against Finland. A full schedule is available is below.

Game Notes: Team USA went 3-for-11 on the power play, while Sweden was 2-for-10 with the man advantage... For a full camp schedule, including live scoring and stats from the international games, a blog, photos, videos, and rosters, click here .... All four of the remaining international featuring the U.S., Sweden and Finland will be webcast at http://usahockey.fasthockey.com The 2011 World Junior Championships will take place from Dec. 26 thru Jan. 5 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY., and Niagara University's Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, NY. Additional info including a full prelim round tournament schedule and ticket details can be found at www.buffaloworldjuniors.com The 2011 U.S. National Junior Team will be selected in late December following a pre-tournament camp that will take place in Mid December... Keith Allain, head men's ice hockey coach at Yale University, will serve as head coach of the 2011 US National Junior Team. Allain will be assisted by Mark Osiecki, head mens ice hockey coach at the Ohio State University; Phil Housley, head boys ice hockey coach at Stillwater HS (Minn); and Joe Exter, USA Hockey's National Goaltender Coach. Mark Carlson, head coach and GM of the USHL's Cedar Rapids Roughriders, and Greg Brown assistant men's at Boston College, will also participate in Lake Placid as camp coaches. Jim Johannson is serving as the GM of the National Junior Team for the 2nd straight year, meanwhile, Tim Taylor, former US Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Head Coach and longtime Yale University Men's Hockey Team Head Coach, is also serving his second straight year as Team USA's director of player personnel.

Game Summary

Sweden 3 U.S.A. 6 (1-4, 2-0, 0-2)

0-1 USA: Zucker (Bennett, Dumoulin) 1:16

0-2 USA: Forbort (PP2) (Clendening, Nelson) 1:24

0-3 USA: Faulk (PP) (Bennett, Morin) 3:07

0-4 USA: Coyle (Palmieri, Ramage) 4:05

1-4 SWE: Lander (PP) (Larsson, Paajarvi-Svensson) 17:21

2-4 SWE: Cehlin (Norman) 7:49

3-4 SWE: Josefson (PP) (Norman, Cehlin) 11:31

3-5 USA: Faulk (PP) (Merrill) 9:41

3-6 USA: Nelson (EN) (Palmieri) 19:48


SOG: SWE 27 USA 24

Goaltenders:
Lehner (SWE) 4:05 2 Saves on 6 Shots
Petterson-Wentzel (SWE) 54:34 16 Saves on 17 Shots
Campbell (USA) 60:00 24 Saves on 27 Shots

Special Teams

PP: SWE 2/10 USA 3/11
PIM: SWE 13 PEN. for 26 Minutes USA 13 PEN. for 26 Minutes


Evaluation Camp Schedule

8/2: Sweden 5 Finland 3

8/3: Sweden 3 U.S.A. 6

8/4: Finland VS. U.S.A.

8/5: Finland VS. Sweden

8/6: U.S.A. VS. Sweden

8/7: U.S.A. VS. Finland