November 18, 2009 - Roseville, Minnesota - Perfect weather conditions greeted the national Bandy teams of Canada and the United States on Saturday as they renewed their annual border battle at the John Rose Oval. In the end, the U.S. would come out on top in a 5-2 final.


It was Canada who got on the board first though, when sloppy play by the American squad led to a corner stroke for the visitors from the north less than two minutes into the match. Veteran Jason Neufeld found the goal with a low hard shot off the inbound pass from Captain Costa Cholakis, giving Canada the early 1-0 lead. Both teams struggled to get anything going for most of the first half, and both seemed to be struggling with poor ice conditions as much as they were battling each other. It was Canada that seemed to have the advantage in the early going with their aggressive play. But after a shaky start, the U.S. team got their game together about a third of the way through the first half. They had their first good scoring chance a little over ten minutes into the game on a corner stroke, when Jon Keseley, the scoring machine out of St. Louis Park, drove a shot high and wide over the net off the corner pass. The Americans would find the net a little over two minutes later when hard charging rookie Brendan "BJ" Bayers took a pass from Keseley and put a backhand over sprawling Canadian goalkeeper Chad Fraser, playing in his first international match.

The U.S. team kept the pressure on following their first goal, and had good chances created by precision passing. At the twenty minute mark, Nick Hauer cut down low and made a perfect pass across the goal mouth to a wide open Jon Arundel, who tipped the pass just wide of the net. Following that, the U.S. had one more good scoring chance before halftime on a long blast from Keseley. But the shot would sail just wide of the net with just a couple of minutes left in the half.  The teams went to the half tied at one goal apiece.  

In the second half, veteran Mikael Sandberg spearheaded a charge by the U.S. team, pushing his teammates to pick up their games, and leading by example. Sandberg made a number of tape to tape passes to get the offense moving. The U.S. finally broke the tie at the 3:20 mark of the second half when goalkeeper Bill Kron found Keseley on a long throw up the left side of the ice, which Keseley quickly moved to Mike Hosfeld cruising through. Hosfeld coasted in and threaded a perfect pass to a fast moving Jon Arundel, who crossed the front of the goal and one handed a shot past the outstretched Fraser for a 2-1 lead. Canada responded with a goal of their own just six minutes later, when a close in shot by Brandon Ellement was stopped by Kron, but Aidan Penner was there to gather in the rebound and put it into the back of the U.S. goal to tie the game at two.  With a little over seventeen minutes left in the match, Sandberg set Co-Captain Steve Nelson up for a scoring opportunity, but Nelson put a shot just wide of the net while cutting across the middle. The U.S. would get a number of scoring opportunities after that, but couldn't find the net. Then, with just under ten minutes left in the game, Keseley was taken down in front of the Canadian net, and was awarded a penalty stroke. He calmly drilled a shot into the upper corner of the net to put the U.S. back on top 3-2, which would prove to be the game winner. With four minutes left, Hosfeld chipped a short pass up and over the Canadian back line, and found Keseley speeding ahead of the defense. Keseley gathered in the pass, and scored on the breakaway. Nelson finished the scoring when he found himself with room in front, and a bouncing ball. He spun and batted the ball out of the air and into the net with just five seconds left in the game for the 5-2 final.

While both teams agreed that they have a lot of work to do before the World Championship in January, each also took a lot of positive from of the game. A lot of the younger players for both teams represented themselves well, particularly Fraser for the Canadians, and Bayers for the United States. Both overcame the pressures of playing in their first international bandy match to contribute to their respective teams effort.  Canada and the U.S. will continue their preparations for the World Championships in Moscow this coming January.

Referees:  Kevin Bowen, Neal Logan, Hemmesch

~ Photo: Pat Hauer
~ Thom Wynn