The Janesville Jets hosted the U.S. National Development Team Program Under-17 team over the weekend and came away with a series split in a tale of two very different games.
Game one was a back-and-forth battle between the squads. Team USA struck first early on in the opening frame, but defenseman Will Troutwine scored his first goal of the season to make it 1-1 (assists: Bartecko, Destefani). NTDP’s Devin Kaplan then tallied his second of the night to put Team USA back on top to end the first period.
That didn’t last long though, as Matt Romer netted the tying 2-2 goal early in the second. The red, white and blue again responded quickly, and the game remained 3-2 as the middle period wound down.
Cade Destefani kept his hot streak alive with a power play goal early in the final 20 minutes of regulation, and Mack Keryluk kept the offense for the home team rolling with a breakaway goal to get the Jets’ first lead of the night. Isaac Howard evened the score at 4-4 for Team USA late, and as overtime passed with no scoring on either side, a shootout was on deck.
Gunnar Williams first got one past USA’s Dylan Silverstein, and Dominik Bartecko sealed the 5-4 win.
Saturday’s finale was an uphill battle for the Jets, with Team USA taking a 4-0 advantage in the first period. Jaxson Ezman was able to cut into the NTDP lead with his third goal of the season to make it 5-1, but the visitors scored two more times by the second period’s end.
Janesville had a big penalty kill early in the final period and did not allow Team USA to score on a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity, but couldn’t generate offense of its own for a final score of 10-1.
The two teams will face off again next weekend on Team USA’s ice in Plymouth, Mich. Games are set for Friday, Dec. 11 and Saturday, Dec. 12 with times to be announced.