LJ Mooney (West Mifflin, Pa.) put his name in the goal column at 7:55 of the second as he was the beneficiary of a tremendous pass from Connelly. After an extended offensive-zone possession, Connelly wheeled behind the Latvian net and flipped a pass to Mooney in the slot, who snapped it in. Emery was credited with the secondary assist for his first multi-point effort of the tournament.
After scoring on a play that was reviewed and ruled offside earlier in the period, Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) netted a good goal with 4:25 to play in the second to make it five in a row for the United States. Logan Hensler (Woodbury, Minn.) created the play from behind the net as he centered it to Stiga in the slot. He deflected it over to Eiserman, who had a back-door tap-in for his tournament-leading sixth goal.
With 1:07 to play in the second, Latvia’s Daniels Serkins got one over the shoulder of Kempf, ending the netminder’s shutout streak at 98:53 to begin the U18 Championship.
Hagens added a sixth goal for Team USA on the power play just shy of the midway mark of the third period. He fired from the left dot after he was set up by Max Plante (Hermantown, Minn.) and Eiserman.
Connelly rounded out the game’s scoring with a Trevor Zegras-style lacrosse goal for his second score and fourth point of the evening.
Kempf finished with 20 saves to pick up his second win in as many starts. Caleb Heil (Victoria, Minn.) relieved Kempf with 13:21 to play in regulation and turned in a clean sheet, knocking aside all four shots he saw.
After an off day tomorrow, Team USA will finish preliminary round play Tuesday (April 30) evening against host Finland to decide the Group A winner. Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. local / 11:00 a.m. ET and the game will broadcast live on NHL Network.
NOTES: With two goals scored, including the game winner, and two assists, Trevor Connelly was named Team USA’s Player of the Game … The U.S. went 3-4 on the power play while Latvia was 0-2 … Team USA outshot Norway, 37-25 … For complete tournament news, including full schedule, broadcast information, stats and standings, click here … Team USA news, including tournament interviews and highlights, can be found at TeamUSA.USAHockey.com.
