In an arena full of scouts at the Peavey Mart Centrium Sunday afternoon American defenceman Lucas St. Louis knew he had the approval of at least one sitting in the second tier of the arena.
As his father, NHL legend and current Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis watched on as the U.S. flexed their muscles beating Germany 8-1 on the first day of preliminary action.
“It’s pretty awesome having him here supporting me and he really helps me a lot in hockey in general,” St. Louis told the Advocate. “He told me to go play the game have fun don’t worry about the scouts or anything just focus on the game. He’s my biggest mentor.”
St. Louis played last year at Brunswich School in the United States High School Prep where he had 35 points in 30 games. He also represented his country for the first time at the 2021 Five Nations tournament in Switzerland where he contributed two points in four games.
American forward Will Whitelaw opened the scoring in the first period which subsequently opened the floodgates with a fury of scoring. Two minutes later Carey Terrance scored a beautiful goal off a pass from Quentin Musty.
Early in the second period the U.S. made Germany pay for their mistakes with a pair of powerplay goals scored by forward Joe Connor and defenceman Joe Gramer.
This led Germany to make a goaltending change replacing Nico Pertuch, who made 19 saves, with Dean Doge who stood on his head with 22 saves. This gave the Germans a brief spark as nearly four minutes later while shorthanded forward Linus Brandl put one in the back of the net to shorten the lead to just three.
American forward Will McDonough answered just a few minutes later with a beautiful tally as he charged the net and picked the far side corner to extend their lead 5-1.
In the final frame the U.S. didn’t let up firing in a goal less than a minute into the period on the powerplay by Andrew Strathmann and Griffin Erdman added another seven minutes later. Whitelaw scored his second of the game late in the third period to seal the deal 8-1 for the Americans.
St. Louis said he thought his team got off to a tough start but ultimately kept improving as the game went on. He hopes to keep their success rolling as the United States proved they can light the lamp against the best and are here to play for the ultimate prize. Just two days ago they also beat Slovakia 8-0 in pre-tournament play.
“We’re here to win, that’s what we came here for,” St. Louis added. “It’s always an honour to wear the USA logo. It just means so much just everyone that’s worn it before me it’s just crazy what group of people I’m in.”
The United States will play next against Finland on Monday at 3 p.m.
