Photo by Jason Hodges
KRAVAŘE, Czechia - LJ Mooney (West Mifflin, Pa.) scored 4:08 into overtime as the U.S. National Under-17 Team scored four unanswered goals on the way to a 5-4 comeback win over Czechia to win the 2024 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament.
Mooney came streaking up the ice with Cole McKinney (Lake Forest, Ill.), who stick handled around a Czech defender and dished the puck across the paint to Mooney, who flipped it into the net for the championship-winning tally.
Highlights
The Czechs opened the game's scoring with a power-play marker off the stick of Robin Svancara amid a net-front scramble 13:28 into the contest, then Matous Kucharcik added a second on a semi-breakaway six minutes later.
Charlie Trethewey (Woodbine, Md.) got the U.S. on the board with just six seconds left in the period. Jack Murtagh (East Greenbush, N.Y.) poked the puck free amid a Czech clearing attempt and Richard Gallant (Concord, Mass.) chipped it to Trethewey, who went stick-side from the high slot.
Svancara regained the two-goal lead for the Czechs at an angle from the left circle, 4:31 into the second stanza. Matej Pekar made it a 4-1 game with 6:25 to play in the period off a Vojtech Cihar spin-o-rama move.
McKinney cut the Czech lead in half with 11:14 left in the contest as Jacob Kvasnicka (Plymouth, Minn.) stole the puck at the goal line, where McKinney picked it up and tipped it into the net.
Team USA pulled Patrick Quinlan (Kennett Square, Pa.) with 2:44 to play and Cullen Potter (Minneapolis, Minn.) scored just five seconds later. Mooney found Donny Bracco (Freeport, N.Y.) at the point, who dished the puck to a waiting Potter at the right circle. Potter sent a rocket of a one-timer past Ondrej Stebetak to bring the U.S. within one.
Conrad Fondrk (White Bear Lake, Minn.) found the equalizer with 1:32 to play. McKinney fed the puck to Mooney along the goal line, who placed it perfectly on Fondrk's stick at the right dot. With the U.S. net empty once more, Fondrk fired a lethal one-timer blocker-side to send the game to overtime.
Quinlan, who played the final 39:14 picked up 15 saves in the championship win, while Harrison Boettiger (Wheat Ridge, Colo.) had eight stops in the 24:31 he played.
The champions return home to USA Hockey Arena this Sunday, Feb. 18 as they host the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Puck drop is set for 4:00 p.m. ET and tickets are available at USAHockeyNTDP.com/tix or by calling the box office at 734-453-8400.
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