SOCHI, Russia - The U.S. and Canada’s men’s hockey teams fired everything they had for 60 frantic minutes of play Friday at Jonathan Quick and Carey Price, the teams’ respective goalies, who shut off every avenue - with one fateful exception.
INTERACTIVE
A lone puck out of the 68 fired during the Olympic semifinal game found its way past the pads and sticks of the two goalies, and it was into Quick’s net, through no real fault of his. And so the Canadians won another entertaining, Olympic battle between these North American rivals, 1-0, and will move on to play Sweden in Sunday’s gold medal game.
The United States, which has never won Olympic gold outside its own borders (having won only in Squaw Valley in 1960 and Lake Placid in 1980), will face Finland today in the bronze medal game. Three times in the past four Olympics, the Americans have faced Canada in an elimination game, and all three times they have lost.
“It’s a tough way to lose,” U.S. center David Backes said. “We’ll be thinking about this for a while.”
The only goal came less than two minutes into the second period on a give-and-go play by Canada’s Jamie Benn and Jay Bouwmeester. After gathering the puck following a face off, Benn fed it to Bouwmeester above the left face off circle, then went toward the net, where Bouwmeester threaded a perfect wrist-pass through traffic to Benn’s stick.Benn deflected it past Quick, who stood no chance.
“We were just trying to grind them out down low,” said Benn, a 24-year-old left wing for the Dallas Stars. “Jay Bouwmeester made a great shot-pass, and it found a way in.”
Price, a three-time all-star for the Montreal Canadiens, and Quick, of the Los Angeles Kings, were the best players on the ice - though Price faced fewer shots (31 vs. 37) and fewer tough rebounds than his American counterpart.
“We took shots from the perimeter,” Backes said, “and there were not a lot of second and third chances.”
The Canadians dictated the pace of play, generated the better scoring chances and kept up the pressure in the offensive zone.
“We didn’t show up to play,” said U.S. defenseman Ryan Suter. “It’s kind of frustrating. We sat back. We were passive. You can’t play scared. I thought we sat on our heels and just didn’t take it to them at all. We had motivation. We just didn’t take it on the ice.”
The confluence of the larger international rink (15 feet wider than those in North America) and an array of some of the best skaters and scorers in the NHL produced some scintillating hockey that started from the opening puck-drop.
“They came at us with speed,” U.S. Coach Dan Bylsma said. “They came at us for 60 minutes, and that was as fast of a game as I’ve ever been a part of. It was up and down the ice.”
Added Canadian center Matt Duchene: “I think we were the first team that could skate with them in this tournament. Even the Russians didn’t play them as hard as we did.”
“The game felt like we were back at home,” Canada’s Patrick Sharp said. “The familiarity between all the players out there helps.”
Canada’s defense, with Price as its last line, has allowed just three goals in five games, compensating for the curious scoring drought of Canada’s collection of forwards, who have combined to score just seven goals in the tournament. Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins center and overtime hero of the 2010 Vancouver gold medal game, is still looking for his first goal of these Olympics.
Medals table Through Friday (88 of 98 events)
NATION G S B TOT
United States 9 7 11 27
Russia 9 10 7 26
Canada 9 10 5 24
Norway 10 4 8 22
Netherlands 6 7 9 22
Germany 8 4 4 16
France 4 4 7 15
Sweden 2 6 6 14
Austria 2 7 3 12
Switzerland 6 3 2 11
China 3 4 2 9
Czech Republic 2 4 2 8
Japan 1 4 3 8
Italy 0 2 6 8
South Korea 3 2 2 7
Slovenia 2 1 4 7
Belarus 5 0 1 6
Poland 4 0 0 4
Finland 1 3 0 4
Britain 1 1 2 4
Australia 0 2 1 3
Latvia 0 1 2 3
Ukraine 1 0 1 2
Slovakia 1 0 0 1
Croatia 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1
Sports, Pages 23 on 02/22/2014