Aug. 11, 2000

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The USA Hockey Under-20 team bounced back from Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Finland by posting a 3-2 win Friday night over Switzerland, in the final round-robin game of the 2000 USA Hockey Challenge at The Olympic Center.

Notre Dame sophomore-to-be center Connor Dunlop did not skate in Friday’s win, after serving as one of the USA’s 18 skaters in Monday’s 4-2 win over Sweden.

The U.S. will face Finland on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. to determine the tournament champion.

Switzerland opened the scoring midway through the first period on a power-play blast from the point by defenseman David Jobin (9:23) but the USA answered with a three-goal outburst in the second 20 minutes.

Boston University’s John Sabo set up a score by Wisconsin defenseman Brian Fahey just 36 seconds in the second period before the teams exchanged power-play goals in a span of 26 seconds. Luca Cereda, who had assisted on the first Swiss goal, pushed his team to a 2-1 lead at the 4,44 mark but UMass-Lowell defenseman Ron Hainsey and Wisconsin’s Brad Winchester combined to set up a second equalizer, this time by Steve Jackson.

The decisive goal came midway through the second period, with the USA skating on a two-man advantage. Hainsey and Providence’s Jon DiSalvatore provided the assists while Gregg Johnson forced home the game-winner from the side of the crease (11:24).

Craig Kowalski made 15 saves to pick up his second win of the tournament while Matthias Schoder had 27 saves in the losing effort. The USA held a 30-17 edge in shots and converted 2-of-11 power plays (the Swiss were 2-of-5).

The USA had claimed an early lead in Wednesday’s game with Finland, thanks to the second goal of the tournament from Rensselaer’s Marc Cavosie (4:38). Troy Riddle and Joe Schuman set up the game’s first goal but Finland later tied the game on Sami Venalainen’s power-play goal (12:50).

Finland rattled off two goals early in the second period, with Tuukka Mantyla converting on an odd-man rush (3:49) followed by a score from Mikka Kaivn (6:24). The USA then posted a 10-4 shot advantage in the third but failed to cash in on several quality scoring chances.

Cari Grahn’s strong 32-save effort earned the win while Jason Bacashihna had 21 saves in the loss.