2018 Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup

MCDERMOTT SCORES TWICE, U.S. BLANKS KOREA AT PARA CUP

JESSICA GOWANS

LONDON, Ont. – Luke McDermott scored two goals, Brody Roybal, Declan Farmer and Kyle Zych chipped in a goal and an assist apiece and the United States shutout Korea 9-0 on Tuesday night for its second-straight win at the 2018 Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup.

Four goals in the first period, including three in a minute-and-a-half, put the game out of reach for the Koreans.

Hargis got the scoring flurry started, whipping a shot top shelf off a cross-ice feed from Brody Roybal. Roybal hit the back of the net himself a minute later, going end-to-end before flipping the puck over the shoulder of Korean netminder Jae Woong Lee, and Farmer muscled through three Koreans before tucking the puck home to finish off the scoring blitz.

McDermott’s first of the night came capped the scoring in the opening frame; he wired in a shot from the slot with just over a minute left in the first.

The U.S. offence didn’t slow down in the second period, starting with Kyle Zych. Farmer’s initial shot from the left face-off dot was stopped by the Korean goalie, but Zych was on the doorstep to tap home the rebound.

Rico Roman added to the lead under two minutes later. After getting the face-off win, he fed it back to Josh Pauls, who gave it back to Roman in the slot to make it 6-0.

A turnover lead to a goal by Dodson off a three-on-one with Pauls and McDermott 36 seconds later, and Noah Grove got a shot through a maze of bodies in front and found a hole for the 8-0 tally.

The final U.S. goal of the night was the second from McDermott, a laser beam from a sharp angle.

The best chance to break the shutout came in the third period when Dae Jung Kim outraced two Americans, but U.S. netminder Jen Lee made a brilliant sprawling save to keep Korea off the board.

Korea is back in action for a rematch against Canada on Wednesday (12 p.m. ET), while the United States faces Canada in its next-to-last prelim game Thursday (7 p.m. ET).