Cornell freshman goalie and Ithaca native Andy Iles made his team USA junior debut Sunday in an exhibition against RPI. He went in with about two minutes left in the game and gave up 1 goal on five shots. The goal Iles gave up allowed RPI to tie the game, which led to team USA taking him out. RPI won the game in a twelve round shootout.
Team USA has one more exhibition until they take to the world junior tournament in Buffalo (hometown shout out), which starts December 26. Buffalo will be invaded by Canadian spectators for the duration of the week.
Though Iles gave up a goal on a limited number of shots, there is no reason to fear. The fact that he is on team USA indicates that he is targeted as an NHL prospect. Unlike many top prospects who are on Cornell’s roster as freshmen, Andy has not yet been drafted by a pro team. Instead of going from juniors to NCAA, he came from the US National Development Program. He will be the backup for team USA in the tournament, so he probably won’t get too many looks next week. But if he continues to separate himself from Mike Garman this year (his goals against average is .35 goals less than Garman’s) in between the pipes for Cornell, he should be in good shape.
*I harbor no hostilities toward Mike Garman. I was just referencing a few things.
