OSHAWA, Ont. - Jack Murtagh (East Greenbush, N.Y.) tied the game with a third period power-play score, but the U.S. National Under-18 Team fell to the CHL Top Prospects by a 3-2 final Wednesday night at Tribute Communities Centre in Ontario.

With the final, the CHL Prospects won the inaugural CHL-USA Prospects Challenge by a 2-0 series final. 

Team USA brought it back to even off a Cole McKinney (Lake Forest, Ill.) score with 5:21 to play in the opening frame. Drew Schock (Green Bay, Wis.) forced a neutral-zone giveaway and quickly spurred McKinney in alone behind the CHL defense. He deked quickly and put his shot through the five-hole of Jack Ivankovic to make it a 1-1 contest. 

Early in the middle period, Andrew O'Neill (Fargo, N.D.) received a grade-A opportunity off of great puck work by Richard Gallant (Concord, Mass.) and Matthew Lansing (Tonawanda, N.Y.), but his slot shot was kicked aside by Ivankovic.

Boettiger returned serve shortly after with one of his best stops of the evening, denying Michael Misa on a CHL 4-on-2 break. 

Misa got another opportunity midway through the frame on a CHL power play, and converted with a back-door tap-in to make it a 2-1 game with 10:28 to play, and the score stood until the second-period buzzer. 

Boettiger kept Team USA in it with a pair of massive saves early in the third during 4-on-4 action. First, he blockered away Cameron Schmidt's quick wrister and then got right back in net to stone Reese Hamilton alone in front. 

Team USA took advantage of a power play as Murtagh tied the contest with 10:31 to play in regulation. Murtagh teed up a one-timer from the left circle off of feeds from Drew Schock (Green Bay, Wis.) and LJ Mooney (West Mifflin, Pa.). The goal was Murtagh's second in as many nights at the Challenge. 

After sustained pressure on Boettiger, CHL forward Cole Reschny finally got one by the Denver commit with 72 seconds to play in regulation for the CHL game and tournament victory.

Boettiger finished his night with 35 saves in an extremely impressive performance in net for Team USA.

The U18s get the rest of the holiday week off before returning to USHL action next weekend. They'll square off with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders next Friday (Dec. 6) at 7:00 p.m. from USA Hockey Arena. Tickets are available by calling the USA Hockey Arena box office at 734-453-8400 or online at USAHockeyNTDP.com/tix.