Delano’s Brian Halonen scored on a penalty shot goal midway through the first period, a goal that proved to be an unfortunate omen for the National Team Development Program Under-17 team as Team Northwest rolled to a 4-0 victory on Saturday afternoon. 

Griffin Ness of Wayzata added a goal for Team Northwest on an assist from Jax Murray with just 32 seconds remaining in the first period, and Northwest ended the first frame with a 12-10 edge in shots over Team USA. 

St. Michael-Albertville's Mitch Bourgerie netted a shorthanded tally early in the second period, and Mitch Matchlitt added another unassisted goal ten minutes later for the eventual final score of 4-0. 

Despite the deficit, Team USA cycled the puck well and fired shot after shot at Northwest’s Nick Wiencek in the third period, as the netminder from Eden Prairie stood on his head for 19 saves in the second half of the game. 

Cretin-Derham Hall’s Mike Magnuson turned in a similarly stellar performance in the game’s first half for Northwest, turning away 15 shots for half the shutout.

Former St. Cloud Cathedral goaltender Keegan Karki made 20 saves in the loss for team USA. 

Not to be ignored, Northwest denied Team USA on all six of the red, white and blue’s power play tries. 

The NTDP U-17's will play again on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and will face a team comprised of players from several Elite League teams.