Team USA wins gold at 2017 IIHF Under-18 World Championship


By @MichaelCaples –

For each class of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, the IIHF Under-18 World Championship is the end goal.

It’s the final test for the group of teenagers working together for two years in Plymouth.

For this year’s NTDP Under-18 Team – along with the help of a few new friends – it’s a mission accomplished.

The U.S. National Under-18 Team captured gold at the U18 Worlds in Slovakia today with 4-2 win over Finland in the title game.

With the victory, USA Hockey continues its impressive start to the 2017 calendar year – the U.S. has now won the Women’s World Championship title, the Men’s Under-20 World Junior title and now the Men’s Under-18 World title.

It’s the tenth gold medal for USA Hockey at the prestigious international tournament; the Americans, who had last won in 2015, took out last year’s champion in the final match.

Nineteen of the players on the U.S. roster skated for the NTDP Under-18 Team this season, while two more – Oliver Wahlstrom and Joel Farabee – are call-ups from the Under-17 Team. The only players on the Americans’ roster not from the NTDP are goaltender Cayden Primeau (USHL’s Lincoln Stars) and forward Ryan Poehling (St. Cloud State).

Four players represented Michigan at the U18 Worlds – Oxford’s Josh Norris (Michigan commit), Brighton’s Logan Cockerill (Boston University commit), West Bloomfield’s Tommy Miller (Michigan State commit) and Northville’s Dylan St. Cyr (Notre Dame commit).

University of Michigan commits Michael Pastujov and Quinn Hughes also played substantial roles in the tournament victory – on in which the U.S. posted a perfect record.

The U.S. squad was led by John Wroblewski, who just concluded his first season as head coach of the NTDP.

Farabee was named player of the game for the U.S. in the gold-medal game after scoring two goals. Norris also scored in the contest, as did Grant Mismash.

St. Cyr – who backstopped the U.S. squad in the final game with 22 saves – was named to the tournament All-Star Team, as was Sean Dhooghe and Max Gildon.

How the Michigan boys fared:

Dylan St. Cyr
He recorded all seven wins for the U.S. squad in the tournament, stopping 163 total shots. The Notre Dame commit finishes his U18 Worlds outing with a 1.96 goals-against average and a 92.09 save percentage.

Josh Norris
Norris played at a point-per-game pace, logging seven points in the seven games (three goals and four assists). The Michigan commit finished with a plus-five rating.

Logan Cockerill
The Brighton native posted three assists over the seven games, including an impressive behind-the-back feed to Farabee for the title game’s third goal. Cockerill, who is off to BU next fall, compiled a plus-five rating.

Tommy Miller
Miller, a Michigan State commit, recorded two assists from the blue line for Team USA. He played to a plus-four rating, as well, while eating up minutes on the back-end.