The U17s, in their red and royal blue specialty Superman jerseys, kicked off the scoring with a nifty backhand from Cullen Potter (Minneapolis, Minn.) at 13:48 of the first. On a power play, Drew Schock IV (Green Bay, Wis.) found LJ Mooney into the offensive zone. He drew the defender and found Potter alone, who finished forehand-backhand-top-shelf for his seventh goal of the season. 

After what looked to be a goalie battle in the middle frame, Youngstown broke the scoring draught to get on the board late in the period. Conner de Haro found Mikey Burchill coming out of the penalty box behind the defense and he beat USA netminder Harrison Boettiger (Wheat Ridge, Colo.) with a quick wrister on the short side to even the score after 40 minutes. 

The Phantoms grabbed a lead 2:29 into the third period when Braiden Clark's shot bounced around the crease, off a U17 defender and into the cage. The go-ahead score, set up by Grant Young and Ryan Botterill, was Clark's 11th of the season. 

Team USA nearly answered shortly after as Will Belle (Minnetonka, Minn.) set up Jake Stuart (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) in the slot, but Youngstown goaltender Owen Bartoszkiewicz got a flailing shoulder on the shot. 

Will Moore (Ithaca, N.Y.) followed up with a grade-A chance from the crease, but Bartoszkiewicz made a fine glove save with a windmill finish.