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Photo by Rena Laverty

Commesso collects shutout as U17s top Finland in Five Nations opener

By USAHockeyNTDP.com, 02/05/19, 11:45AM EST

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Commesso delivers 22-save performance, Latsch and Bordeleau tally twice in win

TRANÅS, Sweden — The U.S. National Under-17 Team earned its first victory at the 2019 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament with a 7-0 win over Finland on Tuesday afternoon at Stiga Arena.

A pair of goals each from Tanner Latsch (Twin Lake, Mich.) and Thomas Bordeleau (Houston, Texas), along with a 22-save shutout from Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) powered the U17s in the win, which marked their fifth victory on the international stage during the 2018-19 season.

"Our staff is proud of how hard we played and how committed our guys were to playing honest," U.S. National Under-17 Team head coach Seth Appert said. "We generated offense with very little shortcuts in our game. We know how big of a test we will have tomorrow versus Russia."

Dylan Peterson (Roseville, Calif.) opened scoring for the U17s when he buried a centering feed off an aggressive forecheck from Ty Smilanic (Elizabeth, Colo.). Peterson's team-leading 11th international point of the season came at the 3 minute, 59 second mark of the first period.

Bordeleau doubled Team USA's lead at 4:14 of the second frame after he corralled a loose puck in front of the net and slipped it past Finnish goaltender Max Värynen.

Jacob Truscott (Fort Gratiot, Mich.) extended the U17s' lead to 3-0 when he set up in space at the right circle and delivered a one-timer for his second goal of the international campaign.

Third-period tallies from Latsch (2), Bordeleau and Smilanic widened the lead for Team USA and Commesso stopped all four shots in the final frame to complete his second shutout of the season.

The U17s return to the ice Wednesday against Russia for a rematch of the 2018 Four Nations Cup championship game. Puck drop is set for 9:30 a.m. ET at Stiga Arena.

NOTES: Team USA went 0-for-2 on the power play and killed off all four penalties it faced ... The U17s outshot Finland by a 37-22 margin ... Ty Smilanic earned Player of the Game recognition for Team USA.

Tournament Schedule

Date Home Away Time (EST) Tickets
Tuesday, Nov. 8 Finland Switzerland 3:30 p.m. Tuesday Pass
Tuesday, Nov. 8 USA Czechia 7:00 p.m. Tuesday Pass
Wednesday, Nov. 9 Sweden Switzerland 3:30 p.m. Wednesday Pass
Wednesday, Nov. 9 Finland USA 7:00 p.m. Wednesday Pass
Thursday, Nov. 10 Sweden Finland 3:30 p.m. Thursday Pass
Thursday, Nov. 10 Switzerland Czechia 7:00 p.m. Thursday Pass
Friday, Nov. 11 Czechia Sweden 3:30 p.m. Friday Pass
Friday, Nov. 11 Switzerland USA 7:00 p.m. Friday Pass
Saturday, Nov. 12 Czechia Finland 3:30 p.m. Saturday Pass
Saturday, Nov. 12 USA Sweden 7:00 p.m. Saturday Pass

Five Nations News