USA White opened the game with a scoring chance on the opening faceoff when Wahlstrom and Jack Drury (Winnetka, Ill.) nearly converted, but their chance was denied by Finnish goaltender Justus Annunen. U.S. goaltender Drew DeRidder (Fenton, Mich.) also stood tall early, denying a 2-on-1 opportunity for Finland with a blocker save.
USA White took a 1-0 lead with 3:25 to play in the frame when Robertson put home a feed from Trevor Zegras (Bedford, N.Y.). John Farinacci (Chatham, N.J.). started the play by carrying the puck the length of the ice along the right wall. After entering Finland’s zone and receiving pressure from a defenseman, Farinacci moved the puck towards center ice where Zegras turned and found Robertson at the left faceoff dot for a quick-wristed effort that beat Annunen.
Finland evened the score two minutes later when Eemil Erholtz collected the puck at the right wall in the U.S. zone, curled across the crease and tucked a shot under the right arm of DeRidder.
Despite possessing a 16-6 shot advantage through the first 20 minutes of play, the U.S. entered intermission with the score knotted, 1-1.
The middle stanza opened with Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass.) reclaiming a one-goal U.S. lead less than a minute into play. With the U.S. holding possession in Finland’s zone, a series of chances were turned aside before a pass from Zac Jones (City, State) found Wahlstrom at the far post for a tap-in goal.
At the 7:25 mark of the period, Sampo Ranta evened the score, 2-2, when a close-range shot snuck past DeRidder. Five minutes later, Erholtz connected with his second goal of the game to give Finland a 3-2 lead it was able to carry into the second intermission.
The final frame saw USA White possess control of play in search of the game-tying goal. With a man-advantage eight minutes into the period, the duo of Wahlstrom and Curtis Hall (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) each generated a pair of chances before Matthew Boldy (Millis, Mass.) lifted a close-range effort off the crossbar. Following Boldy’s attempt, Finland generated an odd-man rush that also ended with a chance bouncing off the post before DeRidder denied the rebound.
The U.S. pulled their goalie with a man advantage with less than a minute to go but was unable to capitalize as Finland held on to win.
