In the west suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A rink bandy game featured the first ever USA Under-23 National Team versus a team of USA’s most experienced international bandy stars from the last 20 years.

No one really knew what would happen when a group of players averaging over 40 years in age took on a group of bandy players full of youthful enthusiasm. But the result was a classic match, as the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie.

The star-studded Legends included four players with over 100 international matches including Rick Haney, Chris Halden, Steve Nelson and John Jensen.

The U-23 team included four players who played in the recent World Championship in Irkutsk including Peter and Andrew Knutson, Wyatt Wenzel and Ian Middelbrook. Several other future stars include Jeff Zach Knight, Sam Blaisdale and Jeff Pauluk.

Co-coaches Chris Middlebrook and John Magnuson had the team ready to play.

The Legends team looked slick from the start as they took command of the game early going to a 3-0 lead. Goals by BJ Bayers, Chris Halden, and Bobby Scott demonstrated to the young guns some great drop passing and stick handling. The U-23 team used their speed to counter attack right from the beginning. However, the Legends goal keeper David Guestchow made several spectacular saves to keep U-23 from scoring and increasingly frustrated. The U-23’s Peter Knutson scored first to finally break the ice late in the first half followed by Wyatt Wenzel to cut the lead to 3-2 at the half time interval.

In the second half, the Legends continued to control the game with shifty Bobby Scott increasing their lead to 4-2. BJ Bayers second goal increased their lead even further to 5-2. The U-23 continued to attack but were stopped by an experienced defensive core led by veterans Erik Kyllonen, Rick Haney, Kurt Steinbergs and John Jensen.

Guestchow continued stop everything thrown his way and the game went through a long stretch of time without any scoring.

The U-23 team continued to press the Legends hard. Led by Zach and Wyatt Wenzel. The brothers hard work eventually paid off as they cut the lead to 5-4. The Legends countered with BJ Bayers making a great individual effort by dangling through the U-23 defense and then throwing in his spin move right in front of the goal. The high flying moves resulted in his third goal (hat trick) and gave the Legends what appeared to be a safe 6-4 lead with only three minutes remaining in the game.

However, the U-23 team was still not done and a wild finish led to a goal by Ian Middlebrook with 30 seconds left. With time expiring, a free stoke rebound was converted into a goal by Sam Blaisdale.

The final result was a hard fought 6-6 tie. The game was well played by both teams. The Legends showed the upcoming generation of players some high tempo bandy, and displayed a great exhibition of drop passing and team defense. The U-23 team displayed high speed, enthusiasm and a fight-to-the finish attitude.

All in all, it was a great night for USA Bandy.

Player of the Game: Dave Guetschow- (Legends Keeper)

ROSTERS:

USA Bandy Legends

Dave Guestchow, BJ Bayers, John Jensen, Bobby Scott, Chris Halden, Steve Nelson, Rick Haney, Kurt Steinbergs, Mikael Sandberg, Erik Kyllonen

USA U-23 National Team

Zander Asleson, Peter Knutson, Andrew Knutson, Sam Blaisdale, Wyatt Wenzel, Zach Knight, Mat Job, Jacob Huck, Nick Omdt, Bret Stopplestad, Jeff Pauluk