Outdoor Game Recap: United States 4 – Canada 3 (SO)

By Ryan Evans

Posted 12/29/17

On a picturesque winter afternoon in Western New York, the United States and Canada waged a border battle worthy of both the rivalry and the spectacle of the first outdoor game in the history of the IIHF World Junior Championship.

 

After falling behind early, Casey Mittelstadt and the United States mounted a two-goal third period comeback before prevailing over rival Canada, 4-3, in a shootout reminiscent of the original Winter Classic held in Buffalo and last year’s gold medal game.

 

With the win, which came in front of Friday’s announced World Juniors-record crowd of 44,592 at New Era Field, the United States extended its World Juniors win streak over its border foe to four games and got itself back on track in Group A after Thursday’s loss to Slovakia.

 

“The crowd and everything about the game today was absolutely amazing,” Mittelstadt said.

 

The Eden Prairie, Minn., native rose to the enormity of the moment, setting up both defenseman Scott Perunovich and forward Brady Tkachuk as Team USA struck twice in a 34-second span to erase a two-goal, 3-1, third period deficit and set up his country’s shootout heroics.

 

Tkachuk and forward Kieffer Bellows both scored and goaltender Jake Oettinger stood tall on four attempts as the Americans prevailed in the best-of-five shootout.

 

“There will be so many memories from this game,” Bellows said. “There’s the celebration with Oettinger and walking out for the puck drop and seeing the snow fall with 45,000 fans. It is something I know I will never forget for the rest of my life.”

 

Mittelstadt, the Buffalo Sabres’ first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, notched the primary set up on all three of the United States’ goals in regulation and now leads the tournament with three goals and six points in three games.

 

“Casey is a big player that comes through at big times. That is the type of player he is,” Bellows said. “Casey is an unbelievable player and a guy that a lot of us look to in games. He stepped up huge.”

 

Canada came into the marquee matchup firing at a tournament-best 50 percent (4-for-8) on the power play and utilized its potent man advantage to stake itself to an early two-goal lead.

 

Defenseman Cale Makar opened the scoring 4:13 into the contest and forward Dillon Dube extended the advantage to two with just under five minutes to play. Bellows and Canada forward Boris Katchouk then traded goals in the second period, which left the U.S. staring at a two-goal hole with 20 minutes to play.

 

But amid the bountiful snowfall the USA managed to dig itself out of the deficit. Canada, which was out-shot, 36-22, seemingly took its foot off of the gas in the final period and the Americans took full advantage.

 

“We got away from our game a little bit,” Makar said. “We had some mental lapses that led to a few of their goals and we can’t have that going on in this tournament.”

 

Bellows said that there was “never a doubt” in the U.S. locker room or on the bench, which he believes speaks to how close the team is. As playing conditions deteriorated, the Americans kept it simple and started getting more pucks to the net in hopes of creating the type of bounces outdoor hockey often produces.

 

They were rewarded with a memorable comeback win that will last a lifetime.

 

“In the locker room some of the guys were talking about how good of a story it would be if we came back and won,” Mittelstadt said. “Down the road now we’re going to be hanging out and talking about it for sure.”

 

With a chance to clinch the top spot in the group, Canada wraps up the preliminary round on Saturday, December 30, against Denmark at 8 p.m. at KeyBank Center. The United States finishes against Finland on Sunday, December 31 at 4 p.m., at KeyBank Center.