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Photo by Rena Laverty
PLYMOUTH, Mich. - Cole McKinney (Lake Forest, Ill.) scored and added two assists to help lead the U.S. National Under-18 Team to a 3-1 win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks in front of 3,000-plus in Team USA's annual Kids Day Game Wednesday morning at USA Hockey Arena.
After a ridiculously high-flying start to the game, Team USA finally broke the ice with 4:07 to play in the first as McKinney jammed home a puck in the crease on a power play. He was set up with a nice passing sequence by LJ Mooney (West Mifflin, Pa.) and Jack Murtagh (East Greenbush, N.Y.) after an extended offensive-zone possession.
Richard Gallant (Concord, Mass.) doubled the U18 lead with 1:29 remaining in the opening frame. On a 3-on-2 break, both Lumberjacks defenseman took Gallant's running mates, so he fired over Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev's blocker from the top of the hashes for his ninth score of the season and a 2-0 score after 20 minutes. McKinney and Murtagh made quick touches in the defensive zone to give both multi-point periods.
Team USA outshot Muskegon by a 19-9 margin in the opening frame, the most shots in any single period for the U18s this season.
Halfway through the second, the Lumberjacks converted on a power play of their own to cut the deficit in half. Teddy Spitznagel was the recipient of a nice back-door pass and snuck it behind Patrick Quinlan (Kennett Square, Pa.) to make it a 2-1 contest.
U18 defenseman Maceo Phillips (Wayzata, Minn.) tallied the lone goal of the final frame. McKinney won the offensive-zone draw back to the blueliner, who corralled and fired through traffic from the point for his second score of the season.
Muskegon pulled its netminder just under two minutes to play, which led to opportunities on both ends of the ice, but Joey Slavick (Westland, Mich.), playing in relief of Quinlan, smothered everything his way for the 3-1 final.
Quinlan was awarded the win in net for Team USA as he stopped 15 of 16 attempts and collected his fifth win of the season. Slavick was a perfect 11-for-11 in relief to continue his tremendous stretch of play.
The U18s continue a busy week as they head out east in Kroger College Series action. They begin the two-day set at Boston University, with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop Friday night at Agganis Arena. The game will stream live on ESPN+.