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MUSKEGON, Mich. - Casey Mutryn (Norwell, Mass.) scored twice and added an assist and JJ Marthaler (Superior, Wis.) scored his first career goal and put-up two helpers, but the U.S. National Under-17 Team dropped a 7-3 final to the Muskegon Lumberjacks tonight from Trinity Health Arena.
Marthaler lit the lamp 6:17 into the game, skating into the left circle and firing past Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev for his first career goal. Wyatt Cullen (Moorhead, Minn.) picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone to start the play and connected with Mutryn at the point for the primary.
Muskegon's Drew Stewart tied the contest with 7:29 to play off a shot along the goal line, then Jack Galanek added a pair just 20 seconds apart to bring the Lumberjacks a 3-1 lead by the 13:53 mark.
Rudy Berzkalns added a fourth with 4:34 left in the opening frame, getting his stick on a redirection for the score.
Vaclav Nestrasil put Muskegon up by a 5-1 count with a back-door tally at 5:45 of the second.
Mutryn added some steam for the U17s with 35 seconds left in the period, picking up his own rebound behind the net and scoring with a wraparound after Victor Plante (Hermantown, Minn.) and Marthaler worked the puck free along the half wall.
Mutryn then brought the U.S. within two, scoring shorthanded 7:49 into the final stanza with a nice toe-drag release off a semi-breakaway created by Plante after Marthaler rimmed it along the boards.
Chase Stefanek regained the three-goal lead for Muskegon 23 seconds later off a scramble net-front on the power play, then Matthew Van Blaricom made it 7-3 just shy of the period's halfway mark for the final.
The two teams rematch at USA Hockey Arena tomorrow, with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m. ET. The first 1,000 fans in the building will receive a limited edition Jack Hughes bobblehead and tickets are available at USAHockeyNTDP.com/tix or by calling the box office at 734-453-8400.