Sharks’ Dan O’Regan & Team USA Defeated in World Junior Quarterfinals

Team USA was defeated in the World Junior quarterfinals on Thursday in Malmo, Sweden. San Jose Sharks prospect Dan O’Regan was part of the losing squad that succumbed to Team Russia, with a final score of 5-3. Stefan Matteau, Nic Kerdiles, and Ryan Hartman scored for the US in the first period, but it wouldn’t prove to be enough. For the Russians, Mikhail Grigorenko scored once while both Pavel Buchnevich and Nikita Zadorov added two tallies each. US goalie John Gillies made 20 saves, but Russian goalie Andrei Vasilevski backstopped his country’s team with 30 saves to beat the defending champion US team.

The US was coming off a close game with Team Canada in which they lost 3-2. After this loss against Russia, the highest seed the US can earn is fifth place.

At last year’s tournament, the US won gold in Ufa, Russia. The MVP of the tournament was goalie John Gillies, who returned for this year’s tournament, and the US defeated Team Canada in the semifinals. The US would go on to beat Sweden 3-1 in the final to win gold, however now with the US out, one of the favorites this year appears to be last year’s runner-up (along with Russia and Canada).

Dan O’Regan finished his first WJC U-20 tournament with just one goal through four games. He will return to Boston University to finish out his sophomore campaign.