Schenectady, NY (April 25, 2005)– Union men's hockey coach Nate Leaman and the U.S. National Under-18 hockey team won the gold medal at the 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation World U-18 Championship in Plzen, Czech Republic by defeating Canada 5-1 this past weekend. Leaman served as an assistant coach for Team USA during the tournament to help them capture gold for the second time in four years.
This was Leaman's third assignment with USA Hockey but his first earning a medal. From 1999-2003 he served as a head coach at the USA Hockey Under-14 Festival and as head coach for the Massachusetts U.S. Select Under-15 Team at the USA Hockey Festival in Rochester, NY. During that time he also made several presentations on different coaching topics and philosophies at USA Hockey Coaches Symposiums between.
For the U-18 squad, this was their third medal in four years after capturing silver in 2004 and gold in 2002. Jason Lawrence (Saugus, Mass./U.S. National Under-18) netted two goals for Team USA, in addition to a goal and an assist from Nathan Gerbe (Oxford, Mich./U.S. National Under-18) and two assists from Benn Ferriero (Essex, Mass./Governor Dummer Academy) as the United States remained undefeated in the tournament (6-0-0) and in international play this year (15-0-0).
Phil Kessel (Madison, Wis./U.S. National Under-18) opened up scoring in the first period to give Team USA the 1-0 lead. Ryan O'Marra put Team Canada on the board when he dumped in a rebound at 11:41. The United States responded with a power-play goal of its own from Lawrence to regain the lead at 16:19. Team USA increased its lead to two goals in the second period with another power-play goal from Lawrence when he deflected a Peter Mueller (Bloomington, Minn./U.S. National Under-18) shot past Canadian goaltender Carey Price at 15:49.
Gerbe insured the U.S. win in the final frame with his fourth goal of the tournament. Kessel fed him a pass from behind the net and Gerbe put it in the top left corner at 6:21. Kessel, who recorded four points (2-2) in the game, tallied an empty-net goal at 19:18 to seal the gold medal for the United States. USA goaltender Jeff Frazee (Burnsville, Minn./U.S. National Under-18) made 48 saves to bring his tournament best goals against average to 1.33 and save percentage to .959.
Kessel earned the IIHF Directorate Award as the most outstanding forward with a tournament best 16 points (9-7) in six games. He has recorded at least a point in each of Team USA's last 10 games (14-14-28). The United States only allowed three power-play goals on 45 opportunities throughout the tournament. Team USA has only lost once in its last 12 World Under-18 Championship games.