Schneider Stays Red-Hot and Barch Records a Three-Point Night as Team USA Rolls Past Finland, 7

USA Hockey National Team Development Program

Schneider Stays Red-Hot and Barch Records a Three-Point Night as Team USA Rolls Past Finland, 7–3

By USA Hockey's NTDP, 02/04/26, 8:30PM EST

Five USA players have multiple point nights

Photo by Michael Caples

PLYMOUTH, Mich. - Kane Barch (Plano, Texas) added three points (1G, 2A) as the U.S. National Under-17 Team knocked off Finland, 7-3, in their second game of the Five Nations Tournament at USA Hockey Arena.

The U.S. came out on fire in the first 10 minutes of play, scoring four straight goals to open up the period. Braden Horton (Souderton, Pa.) got things going on the power play, picking up a miss shot from below the net and sneaking it around the Finnish goaltender.

Box Score

Highlights

At the 13:59 mark, Gunnar Conboy (Lakeville, Minn.) got his second of the tournament. Kane Barch stole the puck in the defensive zone, which opened up a 2-on-0 from center ice. Barch went down on the break, making a move to freeze Samuel Heikkinen and passed it over to Conboy for the one-time goal.

Freddie Schneider (Edina, Minn.) continued his hot streak in the Five Nations Tournament just 11 seconds later. Off the center ice faceoff, the puck sprung up to Schneider who bursted past the defenseman. Going in on the goaltender, he sniped the it over the shoulder to make it 3-0 for Team USA.

He wasn't done scoring though. On the same shift, Schneider picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, driving wide on a Finnish player and tucking it in between the legs of Heikkinen for his second goal of the game.

Finland managed to score before the end of the first period off the stick of Kasper Lyly.

The second period continued the dominance of the U17s. A bad line change by Finland allowed Nate Chizik (Warrington, Pa.) to throw up the puck to a streaking Brayden Willis (Gilbert, Ariz.). Willis baited the defenseman to step up and he slid it over to Rocco Pelosi (Sewell, N.J.) who deked the goalie and put it home.

Finnegan Sears (Medford, Mass.) added his second of the tournament on a 5-on-3 power play. Off an attacking zone faceoff, Sears found himself with the puck at the top of the circle and fired one past the glove of the Finland goaltender for the five goal advantage heading into the third period.

In the final frame, Finland added two goals but Barch added a late closing goal as the U.S. held on for a 7-3 win.

Chizik started in net and made 23 saves in the victory.

The U17s are back at USA Hockey Arena this Friday as they take on Czechia in their third game at the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament. Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. ET and tickets are available at USAHockeyNTDP.com/tix or by calling the box office at 734-453-8400.