Crew USA males's hockey knocked out of Olympics by Slovakia in penalty shootout

Crew USA males's hockey knocked out of Olympics by Slovakia in penalty shootout

Crew USA reacts after dropping to workforce Slovakia in a penalty-shot shootout in the course of the males’s ice hockey quarterfinal match in opposition to Crew Slovakia on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Video games.

Lintao Zhang/Getty Pictures

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Lintao Zhang/Getty Pictures

Crew USA reacts after dropping to workforce Slovakia in a penalty-shot shootout in the course of the males’s ice hockey quarterfinal match in opposition to Crew Slovakia on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Video games.

Lintao Zhang/Getty Pictures

The U.S. males’s hockey workforce misplaced in crushing trend on Wednesday, falling in a penalty shot shootout. Crew USA had been one minute away from advancing to the Olympic semifinals — however Slovakia got here again to power extra time within the ultimate minute of regulation.

“It is fairly laborious to explain proper now,” U.S. captain Andy Miele stated of the loss, considering of the probabilities his younger workforce needed to proceed its run on the Beijing Olympics.

The U.S. workforce, which like different nations lacks NHL stars, is the youngest squad the U.S. has despatched to the Olympics in a long time, with a median age round 25. All of its members are present or former school gamers — greater than half are actually in school.

However the U.S. shortly discovered a profitable rhythm, going undefeated in group play (together with a win over Canada) and arriving on the playoff stage because the No. 1 seed. It was all due to their fluid workforce play. Think about this Olympics writeup of their early equalizer in Wednesday’s back-and-forth recreation:

Within the quarterfinals, the U.S. was attempting to hold on for the win after taking the lead within the second interval off a aim by Sam Hentges — a standout at St. Cloud State College.

However Slovakia pulled goalie Patrik Rybar with round 1:30 left within the recreation — and so they capitalized with the tying aim about 45 seconds later, forcing a frenzied however scoreless extra time after which the shootout.

The U.S. known as on goalie Strauss Mann to make quite a lot of saves — and time after time, he delivered. Within the second interval alone, he saved 13 of 13 pictures on aim.

By means of the primary three rounds of the shootout, neither Mann nor Rybar blinked, holding the tally at 0-0. However then Peter Cehlarik, previously of the Boston Bruins, received the puck previous Mann within the fourth spherical. Miele took the final shot for the U.S. however was unable to attain.

“It is unlucky it is over,” Miele stated. “I loved my time. Simply blessed to be right here, blessed to have had this chance and to guide that workforce; they’re a fantastic group and simply attempt to benefit from the time we’ve got left collectively right here.”

The sport was distinctive, stated Slovakia’s Marek Hrivik, whose late aim compelled extra time.

“It was a fantastic recreation. It was most likely among the finest ones I’ve performed to date in my profession,” Hrivik stated. “It was intense, it was a battle, we all know how good a workforce they’ve, how laborious they struggle on the market on the ice, so we tried to match that and we simply tried to grind it out and it labored.”

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