Team USA picked things right back up from Friday night’s win early on in the first. After fantastic passing on the power play, JP Hurlbert (Allen, Texas) drove in from the circle and sniped his 17th of the year, to make the score 1-0. 

Omaha answered quickly, scoring back-to-back goals off the sticks of Noah Jones and Caden Lee to take the lead going into the first intermission.

The U17s came out firing on all cylinders in the second period. Dayne Beuker (Portland, Ore.) capitalized on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play with Zajic to tie the game two apiece. 

Five minutes later, Zajic found himself at the point on the power play, walking into the zone. He fired one on net, with the rebound popping out on Casey Mutryn’s (Norwell, Mass.) stick and he did not miss for the go-ahead goal.

Zajic kept his heater of a game going. Following a 2-on-1 opportunity by Sam Wathier (Des Moines, Iowa) and Jamie Glance (Stratham, N.H.), Zajic put back home the rebound for the 4-2 lead. 

Shortly after, Zajic found himself in the right spot at the right time. Mutryn dangled past the defenseman and passed it over to Zajic who had a wide open net, giving Team USA a 5-2 lead.

The Lancers scored right before the period's end, off the stick of Tanner Morgan with assists to Sam Scheetz and Chris Battani.

After NTDP locked down defensively in the third, Zajic was able to score the empty netter to get the hat trick and secure a Team USA win.