Hinostroza leads Americans past Canada West to win World Junior A Challenge

YARMOUTH, N.S. - Vince Hinostroza scored twice and added two assists as the United States scored four unanswered goals on Sunday to beat Canada West 6-3 and win the World Junior A Challenge for the fourth time in five years.

J.T. Stenglein had a pair of goals for the Americans, while Austin Cangelosi and Alex Kile also scored.

Seb Lloyd, Evan Richardson and Brandon Morley all scored in the second period for Canada.

"This was a complete team victory," said Brett Larson, head coach of the U.S. junior select team. "We got goals from our big scorers, everyone blocked shots and our goaltender (Eamon McAdam) made key saves."

The Americans took a 1-0 lead on Stenglein's first of two goals on the night. Sheldon Dries made a no-look, backhand pass from the left corner to the top of the left circle, where Stenglein ripped a shot into the net.

Hinostroza cut across the low slot and capitalized on the power play to make it 2-0 at the 16:32 mark of the first period.

Canada West responded with three straight goals over the first 10 minutes of the second period to take its only lead of the game.

Lloyd scored for the Canadians 59 seconds into the middle period, then assisted on Richardson's goal less than four minutes later.

Morley scored 9:31 into the period for Canada's first and only lead of the game.

Cangelosi tied the game 3-3 as he sped into the Canadian zone, took a pass from Hinostroza and flipped a backhand shot into the net at 12:31.

Less than three minutes later, the U.S. regained the lead, 4-3, when Stenglein banged in a perfect cross-crease feed from Luke Johnson.

Early in the third period, the U.S. maintained its narrow lead by killing off two minutes of five-on-three power play time for Canada West.

"I thought the turning point of the game was killing the five-on-three in the third period," said Larson. "We stayed composed and disciplined and stuck to our plan to play as a team and it paid off. I'm extremely proud of this group."

The Americans established a two-goal cushion 9:05 into the final period on a Kile tap in. Hinostroza drew the defence's attention to the left side before slipping the puck to Kile at the right post.

Hinostroza completed the scoring with 2:54 to play on a breakaway in which he was tripped by a defenceman, got back on his feet and deked the goalie to his forehand.

McAdam turned aside 26 shots for the Americans, while Jonah Imoo made 23 saves for Canada West.