1.) Jonathan Gruden (USA)

2.) Oliver Wahlstrom (USA)

3.) Joel Farabee (USA)

The U.S. National Under-18 Team defeated the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, 3-2 Friday night at USA Hockey Arena to stay the lone undefeated team in the USHL.

Jonathan Gruden (Rochester, Mich.) opened the scoring for the U18s at 4:40 of the first period cleaning up a rebound in front of the net. Mattias Samuelsson (Voorhees, N.J.) and Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass.) picked up assists on the goal.

Joel Farabee (Cicero, N.Y.) extended the U18s lead at 7:41 after netting Spencer Stastney’s (Mequon, Wis.) rebound. Gruden picked up his second point with the secondary assist. 

Wahlstrom and Farabee picked up their second points of the period, and Gruden picked up his third, at 9:57 of the opening period. Gruden sent the puck to Farabee at the blue line, who then sent it cross-ice to Wahlstrom for a one-timer.

Cedar Rapids added two goals in the second period to pull within one of the U18s. NTDP alum Graham Slaggert (2015-17) scored the RoughRiders’ second goal.

After a scoreless third period, Team USA’s Drew DeRidder (Fenton, Mich.) had 20 saves on the night while Cedar Rapids’ Jiri Patera finished the game with 34 saves.

The U18s are back in action on the road tomorrow night (Oct. 28) at Adrian College at 7:30 p.m. ET.