OSTRAVA, Czechia – Taggart VanderMolen (Fruitport, Mich.) recorded a shutout in his first career start, while Josh Misiewicz (La Grange, Ill.) collected two assists, including his 100th career point , to help the U.S. National Sled Team to a 2-0 victory over Italy in its third and final preliminary round game of the 2024 IPH Cup at Ostravar Arena.
With the win, the U.S. wraps up preliminary round play as the top seed with a 3-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record. The semifinals will be played Saturday (Oct. 12), with Team USA’s game time and opponent to be determined. A live stream can be found here.
“It was a tough game for us, we did a lot of good things in terms of puck possession, but we weren’t able to get into scoring areas consistently,” said David Hoff (Bottineau, N.D.), head coach of the U.S. National Sled Team. “I thought VanderMolen played well for us in net, and he made some crucial saves to make up for our lack of sharpness.”
The U.S. took a 1-0 lead 11:05 into the contest when Kevin McKee (Davenport, Iowa) flipped the puck over a defender to Misiewicz at the top of the crease, who gathered the bouncing puck and tucked it home.
