Jan. 6, 2010
Saskatoon, Sask. – Notre Dame freshman forward Kyle Palmieri (Montvale, N.J.) and the United States World Junior Hockey team survived a late, third-period Canadian comeback to win in overtime 6-5 to capture the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship at the Credit Union Centre on Tuesday night.
The United States snapped a 3-3 second-period tie with a pair of third-period goals by Derek Stepan and Jerry D’Amigo just 2:11 apart at 4:12 and 6:23 to take a 5-3 lead. The U.S. held that lead until the final three minutes when tournament MVP, Jordan Eberle scored twice for Canada in a 1:14 span to send the game to overtime.
In the extra period, the United States captured its second gold medal in World Junior Championship play when defenseman John Carlson whipped a shot from the left face-circle past Canada’s Martin Jones just 4:31 into overtime to set off a wild, on-ice celebration for the United States. The last time the U.S. won the gold medal was in 2004.
With the win, Palmieri becomes the first Notre Dame player to capture a gold medal in World Junior Championship play and is the 13th Irish player all-time to play for the U.S. Junior National Team. He is the third Irish player to win a medal as Ben Simon `00 was a member of the silver-medal winning team in 1997 and Kyle Lawson (Sr., New Hudson, Mich.) captained the 2007 team to the bronze medal.
The 5-11, 195-pound right wing contributed to the U.S. win on Tuesday night when he set up Chris Krieder’s goal at 13:56 of the first period to tie the game at 1-1. In the seven games played by the United States in this year’s tournament, Palmieri finished third on the team in scoring with one goal and eight assists for nine points with four penalty minutes. He finished second on the team in assists and third in points while his +8 rating tied him for third on the squad.
The United States finished the tournament with a 6-1-0 record and avenged their lone loss – a 5-4 shootout loss to Canada in the preliminary round – on New Years’ Eve. The U.S. advanced to the title game with wins over Finland in the quarterfinals and Sweden in the semifinal round.
With the Irish, he has played in 19 games, scoring five goals with two assists for seven points with a pair of power-play goals. His 46 shots tie him for fourth on the team and his five goals rank him third on the squad.
The Irish are currently 9-8-5 overall and 5-5-4-2 in the CCHA and are coming off winning the 2010 Shillelagh Tournament last weekend in Hoffman Estates, Ill., with a 5-2 win over Colgate and a 3-3 overtime tie with sixth-ranked North Dakota. Notre Dame won the tournament by winning the shootout, 2-1, in five rounds.
Notre Dame Participants In The World Junior Championships
Jack Brownschidle (1976-77, 1977-78) Brett Lebda (2001-02) Ben Simon (1996-97, 1997-98) Kyle Lawson (2006-07) Joe Dusbabek (1997-98) Ian Cole (2007-08, 2008-09) Dan Carlson (1998-99) Teddy Ruth (2008-09) Connor Dunlop (1999-00, 2000-01) Kyle Palmieri (2009-10) Brett Henning (1999-00) Rob Globke (2000-01, 2001-02) David Inman (1999-00)