They played a Russian-Swiss women’s quarterfinal, and an American-Canadian men’s prestige group stage in the Hockey Tournament at the Beijing Olympics. In the former, somewhat surprisingly, the Swiss won 4-2 and reached the semi-finals, while in the latter, the Americans won with the same score.
| American success in the march against Canada (Photo: AFP) |
The Americans imagined a “miracle on ice” even before the Olympic hockey tournament (the story is probably known to everyone: at the Lake Placid 1980 Games, the victory of their university team over the indomitable Soviet “Red Army” on home ice became famous as a miracle on ice ”), Because in the absence of NHL players, more than half of the Beijing 2022 team is also made up of college hockey players from the NCAA.
And what a deny, Young Americans aren’t doing badly yet.
The university students, bolstered by eight European legions, opened with an easy 8-0 victory over the host Chinese side, which was made up mostly of foreign nationals, but was more like a warm-up period – the first real test of strength awaited them on Saturday against arch-rivals Canada.
The derby started to the expected standard: the opener brought lively, well-paced hockey with an even game.
Less than a minute and a half had passed when Matt Robinson’s shot unexpectedly caught goalkeeper Strauss Mann, before he locked his legs, the ball rested in the goal for a long time (Canadian team leader, perhaps the biggest name in the tournament, with more than 1,200 matches in the NHL and 1000 points Modest Stanley Cup winner, Olympic and world champion, that is, Triple Gold Club member Eric Staal scored an assist on goal). However, the opponent did not touch it, just a minute later, at the end of a brilliant attack, he equalized with a brilliant goal: first with the help of a backboard, and then, after an accurate pass, Andy Meili sewed the ball up. Gear up for the previous three championships with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning standing next to Eddie Pasquale’s ear. Moreover, the Americans were able to take the lead in the first half after a Sean Farrell Penny pass was converted by Ben Myers into a goal from center position in the 19th minute.
Once the middle period started, the US was already up by two. This also required goalkeeper Pascual, who lost the puck by standing behind his cage, which coaches don’t like very much – and which Brendan Bresson was easily lifted into an empty net by chestnut-scraped Nick Schur of the Novosibirsk Legion, who even played for the Slovakian outside the Premier League. Dukla Trencín last season
What Canada could not do with equal numbers or with an advantage, he succeeded at a man’s disadvantage. Staal was just knocked out by the elbow for two minutes, but at the end of the turn Corban Knight shot to the side of the stick for good measure.
The Canadiens pushed for the tie in the final third, but it wasn’t Pasquale’s day. In the 47th minute, Kenny Agostino shot from distance and mid-to-mid, but the puck went under the goalkeeper’s arm (2-4). In the end, the Maple Leafs dropped their goalie, but couldn’t get any closer to their rivals, although they ended up winning by ten shots on goal (37-27). After two games, the young USA team leads Quad-A with 6 points and a goal difference of 12-2.
Winter Olympics, Beijing 2022
Ice Hockey, Men’s Group Round, Round 2, Group A
Canada and the United States 2-4 (1–2, 1–1, 0–1)
Later
9.40: Germany and China
group order: 1. USA 6 points (2 matches, 12-2 on goal difference), 2. Canada 3 (2, 7-5), 3. Germany 0 (1, 1-5), 4. China 0 (1, 0- 8). )
Group B
14.10: Russian national team – Czech Republic
14.10: Switzerland and Denmark
As for the women, the Russians won the group meeting of the two teams and were also the most weighted. The Russians were the most active in the first third – despite the fact that the team is still completely on reserve due to positive coronavirus tests – but the Swiss kept the ball. Both teams had a man advantage, but no goals were scored either. It took until the second half of the second half to break the deadlock, when Phoebe Stanz gave Switzerland the advantage. (0-1)But after three minutes, Anna Zavunyina equalized (1-1).
In the third period, the Swiss connected then – goalkeeper Valerija Mercoseva had to make several brave saves – but those chances were missed, and it looked like this was going to take revenge. After 6 minutes and 25 seconds, the ball went through Evelina Rasili after Anna Suhina shot between the legs The goalkeeper is behind the goal line, but the referees do not award a goal. Instead of a Russian goal, a Swiss goal came a minute later: Dominic Rogge gave his team the lead (1-2). After that, the Russians dropped their guard who was already in the middle of the third period, and both teams had a man advantage. Three and a half minutes before the end of the match, the Swiss did not even concede a goal, and on the counterattack, Polina Lushnikova took advantage of a scramble in front of the goal and equalized. (2-2).
However, they were not happy for long, because after just 30 seconds Alina Mueller again gave the white shirts the advantage. (2-3). In the end, the Russians had a man’s advantage and there was half a minute left, when their goalkeeper also went down, but after a party the Swiss got a puck, and Müller also scored into an empty net. (2-4)so the Swiss made it to the quarter-finals, where they will meet Canada in the semi-finals on Monday.
Ice hockey, ladies’ quarters
Russian national team – Switzerland 2-4 (0–0, 1–1, 1–3)
Later
9.40: Finland and Japan
NemZiti Sport report: Gergli Cohan, Erika Kovacs (text), Karoly Orfai (photo)
