Sweden tops Finland in first of six exhibition games at USA Hockey’s Development Camp

Team USA trimmed their roster by 14 players yesterday at the 2010 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, NY. The remaining 28 players will face Finland and Sweden during a series of international games this week. USA sees their first action today against Sweden at the Olympic Ice Arena at 4 p.m.

Among the notable cuts were defenseman Jarret Tinordi and forward Bryan Rust. Tinordi, the son of former NHL’er Mark Tinordi, was a first round pick this year by the Montreal Canadiens. Rust was a member of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program for the past two seasons, and skated in two tournaments with the U.S. National Under-18 Team. Selected by Pittsburgh in the third round of this year’s draft, Rust will attend Notre Dame this fall.

The 28 players remaining in Lake Placid are auditioning for a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team that will take part in the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2010-Jan. 5, 2011, in Buffalo.

“We’re excited to see these players perform against top international competition this week,” said Keith Allain, head coach of the 2011 U.S. National Junior Team. “As the World Junior Championship approaches, we’ll continue to monitor all American players who can help us win the gold in Buffalo.”

Among those remaining are eight returning members of the gold medal-winning 2010 U.S. National Junior Team, including: goalie Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich.); defenseman John Ramage (Chesterfield, Mo.); and forwards Ryan Bourque (Boxford, Mass.), Jerry D'Amigo (Binghamton, N.Y.), Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass.), Jeremy Morin (Auburn, N.Y.), Kyle Palmieri (Montvale, N.J.) and Jason Zucker(Las Vegas, Nev.).

Sweden scored four power-play goals in a 5-3 win over Finland yesterday in a chippy camp opener between two long-time rivals. Calle Jarnkrok, Jesper Fasth, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Adam Almqvist all scored with the man advantage to lead the Swedes to victory in a game that saw 21 penalties called.

Mika Partanen, Iiro Pakarinen and Joonas Mainen were the Finnish goal scorers.

Sweden’s roster was depleted early in the third period when blue chip defenseman Tim Erixon was rocked by a big hit in his own end and didn’t return for the remainder of the game.