Donovan’s ot winner lifts Team USA to Fifth Place showing at Hlinka tourney

Ryder Donovan lifted a shot from the left side of the crease over the shoulder of Finnish goaltender Kalle Nurmi lifting Team USA to a 4-3 overtime edge against Finland in the battle for fifth place at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament at Breclav, Czech Republic on Friday (August 11, 2017).

Donovan, a 16-year-old forward from Duluth, MN scheduled to make his debut with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL this fall finished the game and brought some satisfaction to the USA who dropped two of its three pool games to miss a shot at the medals.

Nurmi, the Finns’ 17-year-old goaltender faced 42 shots in the game before getting beat in the overtime segment while Ben Kraws, the 17-year-old native of New Jersey collected his second win of the tournament for Team USA, kicking out 30 of 33 shots by the Finns.

While Donovan stepped up as the overtime hero, it was a pair of 17-year-old Midwesterners that provided the offense through regulation time.

The Americans trailed early in both the first and second periods, but both times it was Curtis Hall, a 6’2” 195 lbs. forward from Chagrin Falls, OH who pulled his team even. The Youngstown Phantoms vet accepted feeds from Jack Drury, a native of Winnetka, IL who played last season for the Waterloo Black Hawks last season.

Teams were even at 1-1 after a period and 2-2 heading to the third with Finnish goals provided by Leevi Aaltonen, a 16-year-old expected to play both U-20 and Pro with Kalpa in the Finnish Elite League this season and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, a 17-year-old forward also expected to play on both teams for Assat.

The Americans took a lead for the first time when Hall and Drury combined again, this time picking up co-assists on a goal by Blake McLaughlin, a 17-year-old forward from Grand Rapids, MN. The Americans got within 19 seconds of the final buzzer before Sampo Ranta notched the equalizer. Ranta, 17, is a USHL vet expected to return to the Sioux City Musketeers this fall before heading to University of Wisconsin next year.

Assists on the overtime goal by Donovan went to McLaughlin and Gavin Hain, a 17-year-old Grand Rapids, MN native who finished last season with the Sioux Falls Stampede.

The other non-medal round game played on Friday saw Team Switzerland salvage a seventh-place overall finish with a 2-1 edge against host Slovakia.

Pool winners did not fare well in their contests Friday as Sweden, undefeated in Czech Republic pool play was downed 4-1 by Canada while Slovakian pool winners, Russia, were edged by Czech Republic 2-1.

As a result, Canada and Czech Republic will play for the gold medal Saturday (Aug. 12) while the bronze medal game pits Sweden against Russia.