Pardue had a fantastic game from start to finish, his strongest of the tournament. A great route off-puck rewarded him with a breakaway chance, trusting his defender to see the same seam that he saw and long-pass it up the ice. His release is electric, few get the whip on the stick that Pardue did for his goal. Beyond the goal itself, Charlie had a lot of good chances and had to be particularly unlucky to not have a multi point night with this type of performances.

Once again, Charlie Pardue proved that he may just be the perfect player to link up with Hagens and Eiserman on the top line for the Americans. His IQ and ability to read the game at a high level allows him to feed off the pair and he knows exactly where to put himself to get slot chances when Hagens has the puck looking for an incisive pass or to sell a decoy to open up space for Eiserman across the zone. He passes and moves with them very well, and constantly gets himself open to work with their high octane game, and on the forecheck he does a really good job pinning players in their own end. He has a great shot too and can be the scoring threat himself and had a few chances from the slot that ended up being blocked or stopped by Wutzke. Pardue can sometimes fly under the radar given how flashy his linemates are, but Pardue is an integral part of that trio.

Charlie Pardue was the perfect compliment to the show that was Cole Eiserman and James Hagens this game. He didn’t force puck touches and just played the right spots at the right time, finishing with two points on the three even strength goals that this line scored. Pardue initially picks up a secondary assist as he gains the zone with control alongside Eiserman and Hagens, passing just as they control to Eiserman while losing his balance. Pardue recreates a similar play in the final period, attacking the blue line and passing to a teammate in space just as they cross in order to gain the zone with control. This time Pardue maintains his balance and drives the net, forcing the defensive triangle to cover him — opening the lane that Hagens uses to target Eiserman’s stick once again.