US men’s hockey brimming with confidence heading into quarterfinals
GANGNEUNG, South Korea – When the US men’s hockey team lost to Russia in the final preliminary round game at the Olympics, many saw it as a squandered opportunity.
A victory would have clinched Group B, and a bye straight into the quarterfinals. Veteran defenseman James Wisniewski saw things differently.
“I don’t think it’s hurting us that we had to play this extra game,’’ he said after the US worked out a lot of its kinks as it topped Slovakia, 5-1, to set up a quarterfinal game late Tuesday night (10:10 p.m. EST) against the Czech Republic.
Indeed, the US is brimming with confidence as it heads into its matchup with one of the two unbeaten teams in the Olympic tournament. The Czech Republic defeated Korea, Canada, and Switzerland in the prelims. Sweden was the only other unbeaten team.
Center Jordan Greenway thinks the US team is coming together nicely.
“Yeah, I do, I think tonight’s great just because we’ve been waiting for some pucks to go in the net. I think we had a lot of chances in previous games, too, and they weren’t finding their way in and we weren’t getting the breaks, so I think tonight’s really going to be very helpful for us to stay confident,’’ he said.
Coach Tony Granato, however, knows what the Americans are up against in the Czechs.
“They’re a little bit more skilled offensively, I think [Slovakia] was great defensively, maybe the best defensive team in the tournament. Tomorrow there’s some different weapons that we’ll have to be aware of. I think they’re a little more deeper offensively,’’ Granato said.
That’ll put added pressure on goalie Ryan Zapolski, who said after the Slovakia game he needed to get caught up quickly on his next opponent.
“We haven’t really watched any video on them yet, we’re just trying to take it a day at a time, so obviously they didn’t lose yet, so they’re a strong team,’’ Zapolski said. “I think they defend well, and I know a couple of the guys from the KHL, their goalie, he’s a big goalie, he’s a good goalie, so we’ll learn a little bit more about them tonight when we look at the film.’’
Pavel Francouz has played all three games in goal for the Czechs. He plays for Traktor (Chelyabinsk) in the KHL and leads the league in save percentage.
The US scored four goals in its first three games, but put five on the board vs. Slovakia. A victory over the Czechs would put the US into Friday’s semifinals, where a possible rematch with the Russians could happen.
Ryan Donato, who scored twice vs. Slovakia, said the US is playing now with a do-or-die mentality. And Troy Terry, who had three assists vs. Slovakia skating on a line with Donato and veteran Mark Arcobello, thinks the US is silencing its critics.
“I don’t want to call them doubters, but we had some people that were pretty skeptical of this team. We still see it. Some of the older guys saying there should have been more college guys or all the stuff like that. There was a lot of talk about our team,’’ Terry said. “But we’re just a very close group, we don’t really care what people say. We have a lot of belief in our team. I think people saw tonight, we have a very fast team that can play good hockey. We have a lot of belief in our team, we’re excited to keep going.’’
Wisniewski took the long view of what is now a short tournament compressed into the rest of the week. The gold medal game is Sunday.
“You only have to be great for the next five days, so your goalie can actually stand on his head and make a 55-save shutout, and all of a sudden then you move on or win the gold medal,’’ Wisniewski said.
