5 Different Players Score Goals as Team DC Opens With Victory
Like their older professional counterparts in red, white & blue, Team DC started quickly Thursday, netting a pair of goals in the opening four minutes, and then clamped down to record a 5-3 victory against Mid-American in the opening game of the USA Hockey-sanctioned America’s Hockey Showcase. Five different players scored goals for Team DC in the victory, with Ben Calaman (Team Maryland 18U AAA/St. John's) turning aside 19 shots to earn the win.
Devin Lowe (Team Maryland 18U AAA/Dulaney Co-op) got Team DC on the board immediately after the opening faceoff, taking a deflected pass from Griffin Long (Washington Little Caps 18U AAA/St. John’s) and firing a low, hard shot into the back of the net. Evan Yamaguchi (Team Maryland 18U AAA/Frederick County Co-op) won the opening draw back to Tiger Bjornlund (Montgomery Blue Devils 16U AA/Walt Whitman), who moved the puck up the ice smartly to pick up the second assist just 14 seconds into the contest.
Defenseman Wyatt Hinkson (Team Maryland 16U AAA/DeMatha) struck again on that line’s next shift, taking a pass at the point from Lowe and wristing a seeing-eye shot through traffic and past the goalie. Long also picked up an assist on the scoring play, which gave Team DC a 2-0 lead just 3:15 into the contest.
“I liked our energy and puck movement early,” head coach Rob Trantin said. “We came out with good speed and intensity and played with a purpose. There were some lulls after that, but I like how we responded each time they came back and how we clamped down at the end. It was a great way to start the tournament for us.”
One of those responses came immediately after Mid-American’s Darren Wrzesinski cut the Team DC lead to 2-1 with 1:44 left in the first period. Another Team DC defenseman, Jackson Harnois (Tri City 18U AAA/Quince Orchard Co-op), pushed the lead right back to 3-1 19 seconds later after picking up a loose puck in the neutral zone. He streaked down the left wing to the faceoff circle and fired a perfectly placed shot into the far-side top corner with 1:25 left in the opening frame.
Tyler Wolf cut the margin to 3-2 3:24 into the second period, but although it took longer this time, Team DC responded again when forward Denis Kuzminov (Team Maryland 18U AAA/St. Mary’s Ryken) darted behind the net and then found Nate Dailey (Howard Huskies 18U AA/Mount St. Joseph’s) with a pinpoint pass right in front for an easy finish. Colin Cunningham (Piedmont Predators 18U/Battlefield) grabbed the second assist on Dailey’s marker.
Team DC took complete control right away in the third period on a sneaky, bad-angle unassisted goal by Ty Brandt (Team Maryland 18U AAA/DeMatha). Brandt slipped one past the goalie from below the faceoff dot on the right-wing side to make it 5-2 just 57 seconds into the final stanza.
Mid-American climbed within two, at 5-3, with 8:05 remaining on Joshua Branter’s tally, but a strong penalty-killing effort by Lowe, Long, Dailey, Kuzminov and the defensive corps, led by Josh Keller (Team Maryland 18U AAA/Urbana) and the steady play of Calaman helped put the game away.
“Today’s game was a great start, but we were far from perfect,” Trantin said. “The competition will get better each game, so we will have to do the same. But that’s why we are here – to be challenged and compete against the best competition we can face.”
Team DC returns to action Friday at 4 p.m. against Colorado Burgundy. All America’s Showcase games can be seen live or on-demand on www.hockeytv.com.
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