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Team USA men’s hockey lost a heart-breaker in a shootout to Slovakia.
Slovakia stunned the Americans in the final minute of regulation with a goal with a pulled goalie sending the game to overtimes and, eventually, to a shootout. The final was 3-2 for Slovakia, and the U.S. now looks back at missed power-play opportunities in the third period.
It’s a Team USA gold-silver in the men’s freeski slopestyle, as Alex Hall and Nick Goepper were 1-2 in the event. That was a good start for the U.S. ahead of win-or-go-home time for the 2022 Winter Olympics hockey tournament in Beijing.
USA men’s hockey stunned, eliminated
Slovakia stunned Team USA in their Olympic men’s ice hockey quarterfinal, 3-2, tying the game in the final minute of regulation and then eliminating the tournament’s top seed in the shootout on Wednesday in Beijing. Former Boston Bruins winger Peter Cehlarik scored the lone goal of the shootout on Slovakia’s fourth attempt, beating U.S. goalie Strauss Mann (34 saves). The U.S. was unsuccessful on all five shots against Slovakia goalie Patrik Rybar (33 saves), including the final attempt by captain Andy Miele. The U.S. men’s ice hockey team leaves Beijing without a medal, making this three straight Olympics without one. Their last Winter Games hardware was the silver medal they won in Vancouver in 2010. They haven’t won gold since the “Miracle on Ice” of 1980. — Greg Wyshynski
🇺🇸:❌❌❌❌
🇸🇰:❌❌❌✅@usahockey x #WinterOlympics— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 16, 2022
Slovakia advances to the semis after winning the shootout against Team USA.#WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/cQ7uhZcyYv
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 16, 2022
What went wrong for Team USA?
When the NHL opted out of the Winter Olympics, USA Hockey opted to bring a roster of mostly NCAA players to Beijing. For three games, it looked brilliant: They finished first overall after group play (3-0-0), including a win over rival Canada, and had the best goal differential (+11) in the tournament. But that inexperience really caught up them in their stunning quarterfinal shootout loss to Slovakia, an eighth seed that the Americans really should have put away.
After Sam Hentges’s goal gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead in the second period, the Americans had 6 minutes and 38 seconds of power play time that they squandered before Slovakia tied the game with less than a minute in the third period. That included 58 seconds of 5-on-3 PP time in the third period, and another power play with less than five minutes in the game. It was like Slovakia was sticking its chin out, awaiting a knockout blow that never arrived.
Instead, Martin Hrivik scored with 44 seconds left in regulation and his goalie pulled to tie the game; former Boston Bruins winger Peter Cehlarik scored the lone goal in the shootout for either team; and goalie Patrik Rybar (33 saves) did the rest to eliminate the Americans.
There are other lingering questions from the loss. What if Brian O’Neill, a top line forward and the only returning player from the 2018 Olympics, didn’t injure his foot on a blocked shot and left the game after just 9:16 of ice time? What if puck-moving defenseman Jake Sanderson, so solid in their win over Canada, had been available for that 3-on-3 overtime? Why on earth did coach David Quinn leave the brilliant Matty Beniers, their best player in overtime, on the bench for five shootout attempts?
In the end, those “Miracle on Ice” comparisons this U.S. team was getting were applicable – in the sense that a scrappy underdog pulled a shocker against a top-seeded team. –Greg Wyshynski
Freeskiers Hall and Goepper win gold and silver
“This is amazing,” Alex Hall said after the event as he and Goepper celebrated at the bottom of the course, draped in American flags.
American freeskiers Hall and Nick Goepper took gold and silver in freeski slopestyle Wednesday morning, the best finish for Team USA since Goepper was one-third of a U.S. sweep of the event in the 2014 Sochi games.
GOLD for Alex Hall and SILVER for 3x Olympic medalist @NickGoepper! 🥇🥈 #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/yPhyq8s1h6
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 16, 2022
Hall won the contest on his first run, which included arguably the most difficult and unique skill of the day: a pull-back 900, a trick that sees Hall launch a double cork 1080 but stop the spin early and pull the rotation back to a 900 before landing. For his part, Goepper was the only rider to use the side takeoff on his second jump, a right double cork 1440. With his win, Hall earned the first U.S. gold medal in freeskiing in Beijing, while Goepper earned his third slopestyle medal in as many Games, and his second silver. Goepper is the only three-time medalist in the event. Jesper Tjader of Norway took bronze. –Alyssa Roenigk
U.S. women, men fall in curling
The U.S. lost a nail-biting 6-7 contest against Canada in women’s curling, but not before putting up a fight.
.@TeamPetersonUSA has TIED THE GAME!
Get to @CNBC & @peacockTV NOW to catch the final regulation end! #WinterOlympics \ #WatchWithUS \ @TeamUSA
💻:https://t.co/nv6XYhyC4n pic.twitter.com/UZv2SLV4lA— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 16, 2022
After being down 1-4, the U.S. made a comeback, tying up the game at 6-6 entering the 10th end, before Canada eked out a win by one point. Canada’s Jennifer Jones executed a perfect eight-footer with her last rock draw for the win. The loss puts the U.S. women’s record at 4-4. With a playoff position still attainable, they play Japan next.
The U.S. men are in a very similar situation. They fell to Italy 10-4 earlier in the day, but are still in a position to make the playoffs. Tied for fourth place with the Russian Olympic Committee, the U.S. takes on Denmark next in a must-win situation. If they do win, they’ll have a 5-5 record in Beijing, the same record that took them to the playoffs at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. After the win, they would have to play the waiting game to see if they make the playoffs, based on the performances of the nine other teams. — Aishwarya Kumar
Marino withdraws from competition in logo dispute
A week after taking silver in snowboard slopestyle at the Beijing Olympics, U.S. snowboarder Julia Marino withdrew from Monday’s big air qualifier. On Tuesday on Instagram, Marino revealed the reason why, writing that the International Olympic Committee requested she cover the Prada logo on the base of her board or be disqualified from the event.
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