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Photo by Lizz Child/FloHockey
CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. - Cole McKinney (Lake Forest, Ill.) scored twice in his season debut, but the U.S. National Under-18 Team fell to the Sioux Falls Stampede, 6-3, Saturday evening at the 2024 USHL Fall Classic.
McKinney opened up the scoring near the midway mark of the first period in his first game action of the season. Conrad Fondrk (White Bear Lake, Minn.) intercepted a Stampede pass and turned it into a 2-on-1 break. He sauced a pass to McKinney who finished on the backhand for a 1-0 U.S. lead.
With less than a minute to play in the first stanza, NTDP alum Austin Baker (2022-24) showcased his speed and netted a shorthanded tally to even the score after 20 minutes of play.
McKinney grabbed his second of the evening at 7:02 of the second. After a failed Sioux Falls clearing attempt, McKinney scooped up the puck in the slot, wheeled and rifled a wrister that popped the water bottle to put the U18s back on top, 2-1.
The Stampede responded with two goals in less than two minutes to take their first lead of the night. First, it was Egor Barabanov finishing a 2-on-0 break and then Sam Speher netted the go-ahead score after a scrum in front of the Team USA cage at 11:27 of the second.
With 99 seconds to play in the middle frame, John McNelis got in alone and finished through the five-hole of Patrick Quinlan (Kennett Square, Pa.) to extend the Stamped advantage to 4-2.
Noah Erness made it four in a row for the Stampede, as he put a second-chance opportunity past Joey Slavick (Westland, Mich.), who came on in relief, seven minutes into the final period of regulation.
Team USA pulled its goalie on a power play in the back half of the third period, and Sioux Falls found the open cage with 5:14 to play to ice the game.
Richard Gallant (Concord, Mass.) got one score back for the U18s in the last minute as he converted on a rebound off a Will Belle (Minnetonka, Minn.) original attempt as the final fell to 6-3.
The U18s return to the ice tomorrow afternoon in the final game of the 2024 USHL Fall Classic against the Waterloo Black Hawks. Puck drop is set for 2:00 p.m. ET from the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Twp., Pennsylvania.