Volos, Greece - August 21 - The USA Men's Cadet National Team dropped their opener at the FINA U16 World Championship, falling to Malta 10-7. Boden Brinkema scored three goals to lead the offense with
Ben Forer adding two of his own. Team USA returns to play on Tuesday when they meet Kazakhstan at 11:00am et/8:00am pt. Live streaming is available via FINA by
clicking here. Live stats are available by
clicking here.
Team USA jumped out to an early lead, opening up a 2-0 advantage with 3:44 to play in the first quarter behind two goals from Brinkema. Malta answered with a penalty shot goal but Forer scored late in the period to make it 3-1 going to the second. The two teams traded goals in the second quarter as
Colt Bradley connected on a power play and Brinkema scored his third to record a hat trick in the opening half. Malta found the back of the net twice as well to make the score 5-3 in favor of the United States at intermission.
Malta turned up their offensive attack in the third, scoring three times in the period. Team USA got a goal from
Connor Ohl with 3:30 remaining in the quarter and the game was tied 6-6 going to the final frame. The fourth quarter was more of the same as Malta outscored Team USA 4-1 to secure the 10-7 win.
Team USA scored twice on power plays and went 1/1 on penalties while Malta scored twice on power plays and went 1/1 on penalties.
Scoring -
Stats
USA 7 (3, 2, 1, 1) B. Brinkema 3, B. Forer 2, C. Bradley 1, C. Ohl 1
MLT 10 (1, 2, 3, 4) J. Cutajar 5, J. Cassar 1, D. Bugeja 1, E. Schembri 1, C.M. Cutajar 1, L. Montebello Brownrigg 1
6x5 - USA 2 - SRB 2
Penalties - USA - 1/1 - SRB - 1/1
