Sept. 1, 2004
Halle, Germany – The 2004 United States Under-17 Select Team won three of its four games to claim the silver medal at the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament held August 24-28. The U.S. was joined in the tournament by the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Switzerland. Notre Dame assistant coach Andy Slaggert served as head coach of the team and was assisted by David Berard of Providence College and Tom Rudrud of the USHL’s Tri-City Storm. This was Slaggert’s second tour of duty with USA Hockey on the international level as he served as assistant coach of the gold-medal winning Under 18 Junior team that won the gold medal in August of 2003. Slaggert, a USA Level-4 certified coach, begins his 12th season as an assistant at Notre Dame. He was pleased with the way his U.S. team came together in such a short period of time and then played at such a high level. “I thought that our team played four good games and I don’t know if every team that participated can say that. Our one loss to the Czechs (2-1) was a close game. Our kids were focused and really came together in a very short time. I give them credit for their high level of play with four games in five days,” said Slaggert. The U.S. opened the tournament with a 4-1 win over Slovakia in the opening game on Aug. 24 and then defeated Switzerland, 5-3, on August 26. The lone loss came on August 27 when the Czech Republic scored with just under four minutes left to snap a 1-1 tie on the way to the 2-1 win in a penalty-filled game. Slaggert and his U.S. team closed out the tournament with an 8-2 win on the final day versus Germany. While both Team USA and the Czech’s were 3-1 in the tournament, the Czech Republic’s lone loss came to Slovakia in an overtime shootout. Teams were awarded three points for a win, two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. That gave the Czech’s 10 points to Team USA’s nine points to decide the gold medal. “It’s always a great experience to represent your country on the international level,” said Slaggert. “For me the highlight was our first practice, getting everyone together for the first time. It was especially satisfying to see how fast things came together from our evaluations at the Select Festival to all the planning and then finally getting on the ice for two practices before our first game. Everything was compressed into such a short period of time. I really learned a lot from the entire experience.”