Hanover/Munich, Germany - Defenseman Chris Kelleher of the Krefeld Pinguine scored the only goal of the night as Team USA blanked Switzerland 1-0 to win the 2003 Deutschland Cup in Hanover Sunday night.

After finishing second in their inaugural tournament appearance last year, the USA claimed the overall championship as the only undefeated team. They also beat Germany 2-1 after penalty shootout Friday and crushed Canada 4-1 Saturday en route to a 3-0 record (8 points).

The host Germans (1-1-1, 4 points) ended up in second place after a 2-1 loss to Canada in their final game Sunday afternoon. The Canadians, who had entered the Deutschland Cup as defending champions, finished fourth in the four-team tournament with a 1-2-0 record (3 points). Switzerland, which owned the tie-breaker over Canada after a 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs on Friday, finished in third place (1-2-0, 3 points).

Rogles, USA shut out Switzerland

Defenseman Chris Kelleher tallied at 9:03 of the middle stanza as Team USA edged Switzerland 1-0 (0-0, 1-0, 0-0). Ted Drury of the Kassel Huskies skated the puck deep into the zone and fed Kelleher from behind the net, who fired a wrist shot from the right point past Swiss netminder Ronnie Rueger for the eventual game-winner.

US goaltending tandem Chris Rogles (Kölner Haie) and Alex Westlund (Khabarovsk Amur Tigers/Russia) combined to stop 35 shots for the shutout. Rogles played the first half of the game, turning aside 19 shots. Westlund made 16 saves.

"The Swiss came out very fast”, US head coach Peter Laviolette said..”We were sleeping early on. Luckily our goaltending was very good, which gave us confidence.”

Canada holds on for 2-1 win

In Sunday’s afternoon game, Canada defeated Germany 2-1 (1-0, 1-0, 0-1).

German forward Daniel Kreutzer (DEG Metro Stars) had a chance to tie the score on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush in the waning seconds of the game. With goalie Frederic Chabot (Nürnberg Ice Tigers) already beaten, Kreutzer’s backhander rang off the right goal post and Canada held on for a lucky 2-1 win.

An apparent goal from Alexander Serikow (Kassel Huskies), that would have given Germany a 1-0 lead midway through the first, was disallowed because of a high-sticking penalty to Sebastian Furchner (Kölner Haie).

Steve Walker (Berlin Eisbären) put Canada ahead 1-0 with 1:40 to go in the opening frame. The Canadians doubled the lead on a power-play goal from Jean-Yves Roy (Kölner Haie) 3:35 into the second period.

German defenseman Stephan Retzer (Kassel Huskies) spoiled Chabot’s shutout bid with under five minutes to go in regulation.