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The USA had some struggles with Latvia yesterday for most of the game before pulling away for a 6-1 win, opening pool play at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Toronto.
The Hockey East connection was huge for the Americans, and Colin White picked up game MVP honors with 1 goal and 2 assists. White had the game winning goal, taking a nice feed from UConn’s Tage Thompson and driving to the net for the tally:
GOAL! @colinwhite37 gives @usahockey the 2-1 advantage over Latvia with 13:31 to go in the 2nd period! #USAWJC pic.twitter.com/s3xSLiyvtb
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) December 26, 2016
Every WJC game gives out a “player of the game” for each team and White earned the honors for the US.
.@colinwhite37 is the Player of the Game against Latvia with 1 goal and 2 points in @usahockey's #WorldJuniors opener. pic.twitter.com/WeLuM65ONM
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) December 26, 2016
After the game, Colin White spoke with the NHL Network’s Jill Savage:
.@ColinWhite37 joins @Jill_Savage to recap @USAHockey's big win in their #WorldJuniors opener. pic.twitter.com/O19gp4ZCSz
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) December 26, 2016
It wasn’t as good of a start for the other Eagles at the WJC, as Finland (Julius Mattila, Jesper Mattila, and ‘17 BC recruit Eeli Tolvanen) suffered a mild 2-1 upset at the hands of the Czech Republic.
The Finns are back in action today at 5:30 against Denmark. The Americans take on Slovakia tomorrow night at 7:30 PM. Both games can be seen on the NHL Network.
BC hockey is back in action on Thursday against Quinnipiac, where they will skate without 5 regular players due to WJC absences.