Zagreb, Croatia - February 6 - For the second straight game the USA Men won a shootout as they took down Croatia 22-21 in a thrilling victory on Saturday in Zagreb.
Max Irving came up huge for Team USA on offense scoring six goals including one in the shootout while
Jack Turner came up big with seven saves in the cage including a key one in the shootout.
Click here for stats from this game. Due to technical difficulties the full game is not available but you can re-watch most of it
here. Next up Team USA takes on Croatia again tomorrow, February 7 at 10:00 am pt and you can stream that game
here and follow along with stats
here.
It was a high scoring game from the beginning as Croatia came storming out of the gates to take a two-goal lead three times in the quarter including their final one at 5-3. Team USA fought back though as
Ben Hallock got on the board before
Johnny Hooper tied the game at 5-5 on a counterattack goal to end the quarter. It was all Team USA in the second as they quickly took the lead on a goal from Irving and followed that up with two more from
Hannes Daube and Irving again to take an 8-5 lead. Croatia pulled back within two goals, but then Team USA had an answer again as they scored two goals through
Marko Vavic and Hallock to take a commanding 11-7 advantage at halftime.
The third quarter began with each team exchanging goals before
Dylan Woodhead fired one home from deep to put Team USA up 13-9 and Irving followed that with another goal as Team stretched their advantage to 14-9. Croatia never gave up though as they rallied to score two straight to end the quarter with Team USA ahead 14-11. Croatia continued their momentum into the final quarter as they got back within two goals at 14-12. The teams then exchanged goals twice before Croatia scored back to back goals to tie the game at 16-16. Team USA called a timeout and drew up what they hoped would be the winning goal as Bowen faked and then drilled one in off a great pass from Daube, but Croatia leveled the game with :04 seconds left to send it to a shootout.
Croatia started the shootout scoring on their first attempt. Each team then exchanged goals before Turner delivered a huge save on Luka Bukic to give Team USA the advantage in the shootout. Then Hooper, Irving and Hallock all scored their attempts as Team USA won the penalty shootout 5-4 and the game 22-21.
Team USA went 5/10 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties while Croatia went 5/10 on power plays and 2/2 on penalties.
Scoring
USA 22 (5, 6, 3, 3) (5) M. Irving 5, A. Bowen 3, H. Daube 3, M. Vavic 2, B. Hallock 1, J. Hooper 1, B. Stevenson 1, D. Woodhead 1 (A. Bowen 1, H. Daube 1, J. Hooper 1, M. Irving 1, B. Hallock 1)
CRO 21 (5, 2, 4, 6) (4) A. Vukicevic 4, L. Fatovic 4, L. Bukic 3, J. Vrlic 2, N. Dobud 2, R. Buric 2, M. Jokovic, L. Loncar 1, L. Milos 1
6x5 - USA - 5/10 - CRO - 5/10
Penalties - USA - 1/1 - CRO - 2/2
Saves - USA - J. Turner 7
