TESSIER STARTS SCORING, BUT SLEDGE DEVELOPMENT DROPS SERIES OPENER TO U.S.

TORONTO, Ont. – Nicholas Tessier (Casselman, Ont.) opened the scoring just 2:26 in, but that would be it for Canadian offence as Canada’s National Sledge Development Team suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the United States in the first of a three-game series on Thursday night.

After winning all six meetings against the U.S. during the 2010-11 season, the Canadians have dropped five of their last seven to their North American rivals.

After Tessier’s opener, 15-year-old Vlad Lundquist tied it for the Americans 10 minutes later and another teenager, 14-year-old Brody Roybal, gave the U.S. its first lead just shy of the 12-minute mark of the second period.

Dan McDevitt put the game away for the Americans in the third, scoring a pair of goals in the final 15 minutes.

Canadian netminder Dustan Hamar (Edmonton, Alta.) was busy, making 15 saves. His U.S. counterpart, Justin Kreger, finished with 11 stops as the Americans held a 19-12 advantage in shots on goal.

Neither team spent time in the penalty box, a rare Canada-U.S. match-up without a power play.

The teams return to the ice at the MasterCard Centre for Game 2 on Friday night (7 p.m. ET) before closing out the series Saturday afternoon (4:30 p.m. ET).