The U17s got on the board quick with the help of Nelson's 18th goal of the season. AJ Francisco (Hermantown, Minn.) got the play started with a breakout pass to Jamie Glance (Stratham, N.H.) who quickly touched the puck up to Nelson. Nelson split a pair of defenders and snapped one past starting Youngstown netminder Melvin Strahl 2:13 into play.

A tick over two minutes passed until Team USA found twine again, this time off the tape of JP Hurlbert (Allen, Texas). Stuart rang the puck around the boards as Hurlbert picked it up behind the net, dashed towards the crease and scored his 18th of the season.

The Phantoms cut the lead in half with 10:59 to go as Jamison Sluys got on the board, and evened things after the first 20 with a goal from Ryan Rucinski with under a minute to go. The Phantoms kept it up in the middle frame and pushed the score to 4-2 with a pair of power play goals. The Phantoms nearly tacked on another, but Brady Knowling (Chicago, Ill.) stretched out to deny the Phantoms of a goal with :07 seconds to go in the period.

The Phantoms made it 5-2 early in the third, but Stuart got one back 6:31 into the final period. Dayne Beuker (Portland, Ore.) fired one from the blue line where Stuart used his keen hand-eye coordination to deflect the puck into the back of the net. The Phantoms, however, answered with a pair to make it 7-3, the eventual final score.