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Photo by Rena Laverty
LONDON, Ont. - Jack Murtagh (East Greenbush, N.Y.) found the back of the net, but the U.S. National Under-18 Team dropped Game One of the inaugural CHL-USA Prospects Challenge Tuesday night by a 6-1 final at Canada Life Place in Ontario.
The CHL's Lynden Lakovic netted the only goal of the first 20 minutes as he slipped in behind the defense and put his breakaway shot off the post and in at 5:44 of the first.
U.S. netminder Patrick Quinlan (Kennett Square, Pa.) made a bevy of impressive stops in the first frame, finishing the period with 11 saves in net.
The CHL added three scores in the first 5:31 of the second to extend its lead to 4-0. Cameron Schmidt fired short-side on a 2-on-1 break to start the trio, Brady Martin was the recipient of a tough bounce in the U.S. defensive zone to tap in and Matthew Schaeffer made it 4-0, shoving one through the pads of Quinlan just over five minutes into the frame.
Quinlan kept the score as it was with his best stop of the night midway through the game, stoning Caleb Desnoyers with the right pad when he got in alone.
Malcolm Spence tacked on a CHL power-play tally with 13:13 to play in regulation.
Matthew Lansing (Tonawanda, N.Y.) generated Team USA's best even-strength chance of the third, but his breakaway attempt was kicked aside by CHL netminder Joshua Ravensbergen with a little more than five minutes to play in regulation.
With 3:25 to play, the buzzer sounded during play to indicate a video review had determined a CHL goal was scored as the clock reset to 5:51 and a 6-0 lead for the home team.
Murtagh put the U18s on the board off a one-timer on the power play with 2:16 to play in the game. Cole McKinney (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Will Moore (Ithaca, N.Y.) assisted on the late score for the 6-1 final.
The two sides finish the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge tomorrow evening in Oshawa, Ontario. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. ET from Tribute Communities Centre and the game will broadcast live on NHL Network.