The World Juniors Summer Showcase continued with Game 2 on Sunday afternoon, July 27, with the other half of Team USA’s roster; USA Blue taking on Team Sweden. USA White completed a 5-2 victory over Finland in the first game of the day. Game 2 started the opposite way, with Sweden getting on the board first and USA Blue fighting back.
Related: USA White Takes Down Finland in Game 1 of World Junior Summer Showcase
USA Blue’s goaltender was Jack Parsons until partway through the game, when Kam Hendrickson came in, while Sweden went with Love Härenstam the whole game. It was a hard-fought battle as the first period was scoreless, but each team found the back of the net in the second and third periods. Sweden started with the lead, had to fight off USA Blue’s comeback, and took the 5-2 victory.
Game Recap
Game 2 started out quickly, just like Game 1, but the scoring didn’t start quite as quickly. The first period went scoreless, compared to the first game, which had three goals in the first 20 minutes. There was quite a bit of physicality once again, but no goals, and the period ended scoreless.
The second period is where the scoring happened as Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg knocked in a shot from the point, and started the scoring. He was assisted by Sascha Boumedienne and Eric Nilson to take a 1-0 lead. USA Blue bounced back as Luke Osburn scored to tie the game 1-1. He was assisted by LJ Mooney and Trevor Connelly. That gave USA Blue momentum to add another goal as Mooney recorded the go-ahead goal a few minutes later. He was assisted by Ben Kevan and Mason Moe to take a 2-1 lead into the third period.
The lead didn’t last as Sweden forced their way back into the game with back-to-back goals, just like USA Blue. The first goal was recorded by Jack Berglund, and he was assisted by Lucas Pettersson and Wilson Björck to tie the game 2-2. Then, USA Blue took down Stenberg on a breakaway to give Sweden a penalty shot, and Stenberg scored to take a 3-2 lead. Stenberg tallied a hat trick as he scored again this time on the empty net to give his team a 4-2 lead.
Sweden’s Felix Öhrqvist scored his own empty net goal to give his team a 5-2 lead, and USA Blue couldn’t find a way to answer as Sweden took the win. Both teams will be back in action on Monday, July 28, with USA Blue facing Finland and Sweden taking on USA White.
