U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp continued on Sunday with two more scrimmages as the US, Sweden and Finland prepare for the 2016 World Juniors Championships in Helsinki, Finland, which starts on December 26.
In Sunday’s scrimmages USA White took on Finland, bringing home a 5-2 win, while USA Blue played Sweden and lost 5-2.
In the first game, Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Sonny Milano potted a pair of goals, including the fourth US goal, a shorthanded marker that saw him retrieve a dumped in puck, weave through all five Finnish players, and beat the goaltender for a spectacular goal.
Also scoring for the U.S. were Nick Schmaltz (Chicago Blackhawks), who tapped in a nice feed in front of the net, Scott Eansor (free agent) and Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings), who scored an empty netter to end the game. Leading the team was Milano, who scored two goals and an assist on the day.
2016 draft eligibles were also on display with presumed number one overall Auston Matthews grabbing an assist and one of his competitors for that honor, Jesse Puljujärvi, grabbing an assist for Finland. 2016 draft eligible defenseman Chad Krys also grabbed an assist for the U.S.
In the second game of the day, the U.S. had a little less success with Team Blue not quite having the fire power up front of Team White, though still having a strong squad and a particularly impressive blue line, led by Noah Hanifin, Jack Dougherty, Josh Jacobs and others.
Minnesota Wild prospect Jordan Greenway — the largest player to be drafted in the 2015 draft at 6 foot 5, 223 pounds (he’s 18 years old) — opened the scoring, putting in a shorthanded breakaway tally with a nice move to finish it off. Wild fans continued to have something to be excited about as Sweden bounced back and took the lead on a goal by Gustav Bouramman, another 2015 draft pick for the Wild.
The only other goal scored by the Americans was the team’s second shorthanded breakaway goal, this one scored by Winnipeg Jets prospect Erik Foley off of a beautiful pass from Colin White (Ottawa Senators) in the neutral zone.
Watch all of these goals and more below.
On Monday, USA Blue will play Finland at 1pm EST and then USA White will take on Sweden at 4pm EST. You can stream both games at FastHockey.com.
RELATED: Highlights From U.S. World Juniors Inter-Squad Scrimmage
