By USA Hockey, 08/05/25, 7:15PM EDT
PLYMOUTH, Mich. – Gerry DiCunzolo (Buffalo, N.Y.) recorded a hat trick and Colin Grubb (Minot, N.D.) registered four assists as the U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Team earned a 7-5 victory over Slovakia here today at USA Hockey Arena in its first game of the preliminary round at the 2025 Under-17 Four Nations Tournament.
“We’ve only been together for a few days as a team and every day we’ve gotten better,” said Jason Guerriero (Manorville, N.Y.), head coach of the U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Team. “I give the guys a lot of credit, they’ve bought in during the short time we’ve been together.”
Tomáš Selič opened the scoring for Slovakia 1:29 into the first wristing a shot home following a centering feed from Jakub Šimončič.
Gunnar Conboy (Lakeville, Minn.) responded at 3:22 of the frame scoring on a breakaway opportunity set up by a stretch pass from Caleb Deanovich (Fond du Lac, Wis.). The U.S. took the lead :36 later, as Logan Anderson (Estero, Fla.) tapped one past Slovakian netminder Jakub Husár after a cross-ice pass from Sawyer Schmidt (Buffalo, N.Y.).
Brooks DeMars (Hugo, Minn.) gave the U.S. a 3-1 lead at 7:06, beating Husár on a breakaway following a pass from Deanovich.
Slovakia responded at 10:42 as Matúš Válek tapped home a backdoor pass from Selič to cut his team’s deficit to one. Válek added a second tally with 4:48 remaining to tie the contest, 3-3.
Conboy scored his second of the game at 8:38 of the middle stanza during 4-on-4 play, as he ripped a wrist shot from the top of the circles past Husár’s blocker.
DiCunzolo scored twice in 35 seconds to extended Team USA’s lead to 6-3. He first scored on a point-blank shot set up by Ethan Sung (Pasadena, Calif.) before scoring his second on a 2-on-1 chance, also assisted by Sung, to give the U.S. a three-goal advantage.
Samuel Pisarčík brought Slovakia within two at 2:31 of the third on the power play, scoring on a shot from the left faceoff circle.
DiCunzolo completed the hat trick :47 later, corralling a pass from Sung and tucking one home on the ensuing breakaway opportunity to give the U.S. a 7-4 advantage.
Šimončič scored from just outside the slot with 2:47 remaining to account for the 7-5 final.
U.S. goaltender Mason Courville (Palmyra, Pa.) finished the game with 23 saves.
The U.S. Under-17 Men's Select Team continues preliminary round play tomorrow (Aug. 6) against Switzerland at 4:30 p.m. ET at USA Hockey Arena. Tickets are available here and the game will be streamed live on USAHockeyTV.com.
NOTES: Gerry DiCunzolo was named U.S. Player of the Game … Team USA outshot Slovakia, 35-28 … The U.S. won its opening first game of the Under-17 Four/Five Nations Tournament for the sixth-straight time dating back to 2019.
Tag(s): News Men's U17 Four/Five Nations Home