The U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team did not medal at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, held from July 31 to Aug. 6 in Red Deer, Alberta, but Tanner Adams and the rest of the squad gained tons of valuable experience from playing on an international stage.
The U.S., seeking its first gold medal at the annual invitation only under-18 tournament since 2003, downed Slovakia, 4-2, in the fifth-place game Aug. 5 at Peavy Mart Centrium. The following day, Canada beat Sweden, 4-1, in the gold-medal game, and Finland downed Czechia, 3-1, in the bronze-medal game.
“It was good to go out on a winning note,” U.S. coach Anthony Noreen said. “It gave everyone a little bit of a better taste in their mouths. It was tough to watch the medal round and not be a part of it. That was our goal going in and it was tough to fall short of our goal. We wish we had a chance to see what we could have done against Canada.”
