Finland scored three straight goals after Cannon Thibodeau opened the scoring on a penalty shot, and the U.S. National Under-18 Team lost 3-1 on Friday at the U18 Five Nations Tournament in Kloten, Switzerland. It was the first loss of the tournament for the Plymouth-based National Team Development Program squad, which had beaten Sweden 3-1 on Wednesday and Czechia 4-1 on Thursday.
Thibodeau, who also scored the opening goal against Czechia, put the U.S. in front in the first period when he was awarded a penalty shot and converted it against Finnish starter Samuel Heikkinen. The lead did not last through the period. Finland tied the game at 13:36 of the first and went ahead at 18:53, taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Finns added a cushion at 8:30 of the second period, scoring on a rebound to make it 3-1. Neither team scored the rest of the way. Eli Winters, from Muskegon, played the full game in goal for the U.S. until he was pulled late in the third period for an extra attacker, but the Americans could not get one back against Heikkinen.
The NTDP’s game story did not list assists, shot totals, or save counts, and it did not name the Finnish goal scorers.
The U.S. closes the tournament Sunday at 10 a.m. ET against host Switzerland. After returning home, the U18s host the Chicago Steel in a USHL series at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.
Earlier in Kloten: NTDP U18 Game Recap: vs. Sweden (Nov. 4) and NTDP U18 Game Recap: vs. Czechia (Nov. 5).
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