Korea defeat Russia to open Sled Cup
24.01.2013
On the first day of the USA Hockey Sled Cup, Korea beat Russia and USA’s national team beat the country’s development team.
In their first-ever ice sledge hockey matchup against one another, Korea dealt Russia a 4-2 defeat to open up the USA Hockey Sled Cup on Wednesday (23 January) at the Extreme Ice Centre in Indian Trail, North Carolina.
Seung-Hwan Jung, who is on the IPC’s Ones to Watch list for this season, led Korea with a goal and an assist, while Young-Min Lee and Jong-Kyung Lee also recorded scores for the winning side.
Russia, winners of the 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships, were led by Ruslan Tuchin’s goal and assist, while Ivan Kuznetsov also netted a score.
In the other game, USA’s national team defeated the nation’s development team, 5-0. Greg Shaw, Adam Page, Paul Schaus, Alexi Salamone and Josh Pauls all scored for the national team.
Goaltenders Steve Cash and Jen Lee shared the shutout for the national team, while the development team’s Justin Kreger had 19 saves.
"I was pleased with our overall play tonight," the American national head coach Jeff Sauer told USA Hockey.
"It was great to get offense from so many players, but I really liked our defensive effort as well. We have talked about playing consistently each time we get together for a tournament and we did that tonight."
The tournament continues on Thursday when USA’s development team takes on Korea at 16:00 (EST) and Russia challenges USA’s national team at 18:40 (EST).
FASTHockey is providing live streaming coverage for all tournament games. Those interested in watching can sign up for a free account at USAHockey.FASTHockey.com.