U.S. National Under-17 Team Tripped Up by Fargo, 6-3

Paliotta, Russo and Haggerty All Score For U.S.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michael Paliotta (Westport, Conn.), Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill.) and Ryan Haggerty (Stamford, Conn.) each scored, but it was not enough as the U.S. National Under-17 Team as it dropped a 6-3 decision to the Fargo Force here today.

Team USA struck just 2:53 into the opening stanza when Paliotta wristed a shot over netminder Ryan Holfeld's glove from the left point just five seconds into a Team USA power play. Nate Schmidt answered back for the Force after his wrist shot beat Matt McNeely (Burnsville, Minn.) over the glove at 5:37. Fargo took the lead at the 9:50 mark after Garrett Allen banged home a rebound from the left side for a power-play marker. With just 40 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Russo intercepted a Force clearing attempt, skated to the center point and unleashed a slap shot through a screen and into the net to knot the score, 2-2. McNeely made 18 saves in the frame.

The Force took a 4-2 lead with goals just 58 seconds apart starting at the 5:30 mark of the middle stanza with a power-play marker from Schmidt. Cole Gunner lifted a wrist shot past McNeely from inside the right faceoff circle to give the Force the two-goal advantage. With Team USA down one man, Haggerty knocked a rebound past Holfeld to cut the deficit in half.
A pair of goals from Allen, including an empty-netter, in the third frame accounted for the 6-3 final.

McNeely made 41 saves on the afternoon.

The U.S. National Under-17 Team returns to action Friday (Nov. 27) when it meets one of the USHL East division leaders, Chicago Steel, at The Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville, Ill., at 7:30 p.m. CST.

NOTES: Ryan Haggerty scored his team-leading seventh goal and second shorthanded marker ... Robbie Russo netted his first career NTDP goal ... The U.S. National Under-18 Team will take on the Force Sunday at 3:05 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.