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US hockey team defeats Canada in group stage battle; cements status as top contender for gold

next year’s winter olympics will be without some of hockey’s most talented players in the NHL and its players association have agreed to not participate in the men’s hockey tournament at the Beijing olympics next year. And it’s because of the league being forced to recently postpone some of its games Because of a rise in COVID-19 cases among players in the league here. Now to discuss more on what this could mean for the Winter Olympics and the sport of hockey as a whole. Sports reporter for the Washington Post, Samantha Pell Samantha, thank you so much for joining us. Can you offer a little bit more detail about why the NHL and its players association decided not to participate in the Olympics next year. Yeah, absolutely. You know, bottom line, it was because of the spike of coronavirus cases. And the basically led to 50 postponed games. Now these 50 postponed games were what the league determined material materially impact of the season so much that they could not finish this season on time if their players did go to the Olympics. So basically the NHL and the players association already agreed when they did their CB a 17 months ago that if the schedule was going to be material impacted, if there was going to have, you know, a high enough number of games to be postponed and these players would not be allowed to go to the olympics and the league announced this week. That’s exactly what was going to happen. And even individual players cannot go to the olympics. They cannot go rogue. They have to agree to their contracts and honor that contract and not go to the olympics this year. So you mentioned this kind of the solution to keep the season going on pace because of COVID-19 in this pandemic. How will it impact the season as far as we know? Um, and maybe potentially in future seasons, definitely at least for this season, there’s gonna be no more even a three week break for the NHL, they’re gonna have to use these games from february 6 to the 22nd. They were supposed to be off days. The NHL is now going to have to reschedule all of these postponed games during that time. And honestly, it’s gonna be a bit of a scheduling nightmare for the NHL in the league. Just trying to figure out buildings and teams and how everyone is going to be able to play each other in a certain amount of time while still giving players a bit of a break that they do deserve. So it’s gonna be really challenging, at least for this season to get through it. Who knows if the NHL is out of the woods with Covid yet as well. But as of right now, they’re on a slight break. They hope to start again on monday. Yeah. And, you know, a really big challenge for the olympics. We know hockey one of the biggest sports when it comes to the winter games. How do you think this will impact the event? I mean, the NHL did not participate in the 2018 winter olympics. So we’ve already kind of seen the competition in the level of skill that can happen in olympics without NHL players. Clearly the NHL has some of, you know, the world’s best hockey players who play at the biggest stage. So you won’t have guys like Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby and some of the bright young stars like Conor, McDavid or Austin Matthews, so Obviously these names will be greatly missed, but we did see this in 2018, we still had a great showcase as well as the women’s hockey tournament too. Yeah, as you’re mentioning that, I think follow up, what do you think it means for lesser known players? Um having a chance maybe to play on the world’s biggest stage during one of the most iconic events in a professional’s career? I mean, yeah, I mean, that has to be a dream come true for a lot of these guys, right, You know, you think of the Ovechkin’s and the Crosby’s who have maybe kind of been there before and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for even the NHL stars and now you’re going to get guys who are in college who were playing in the Euro League, who are playing the HL the american hockey league, who we weren’t going to get their shot at the olympics and now, here we go, it looks like the stage is set for them to go ahead and you know, kind of achieve those dreams that maybe they never thought they’d get a chance to have. Yeah. And you mentioned that this isn’t something new for the NHL but have there been times in the past that you can kind of highlight in olympic history where amateur players or non pros really got their chance to shine and what those olympic games were like. I mean the first thing that comes to mind honestly is miracle on ice and that amazing. You know, US hockey team that came out all college players and the way that they you know, really defined history from that point moving forward and I think when you go to another sport like you know in basketball, the NBA had extreme team in 1992 that was the first time that pros were able to participate for basketball. So You know obviously there have been moments but definitely in hockey of the miracle on ice and just recently in 2018 is probably the main ones that everyone pretty much talks about. Yeah. And Samantha, before we let you go, also want to ask you, do you foresee that we could see this trend moving beyond just hockey and maybe into other sports for the winter olympics. Yeah. I think it’s definitely interesting. I think for a lot of other sports it has to be just the concern about the coronavirus. I think with the NHL was so particular because you know, they’re playing at this current time and you’re trying to ask athletes to go away from their own professional seasons and go and play in the olympics and with these other sports, I feel like it’s going to be more about the health and safety and if they want to go and kind of the logistics of everything. So I definitely think it could happen. I definitely think, you know, players could opt out as we’ve seen in the past. So I think that’s definitely something to look forward to or I guess look at moving forward. Alright, Samantha Powell, sports reporter for the Washington Post. So good to have you on. Thank you so much for breaking that down for us.

US hockey team defeats Canada in group stage battle; cements status as top contender for gold

The United States took all the questions about youth and inexperience and had all the answers against Canada.Andy Miele responded to Canada’s early goal by tying it 70 seconds later, Brendan Brisson scored his second of the Olympics and the Americans beat their biggest rival 4-2 Saturday to put them in the driver’s seat to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament.Sean Farrell also set up Ben Meyers to give him three assists and six points and goaltender Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the U.S. improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round. Beating Germany on Sunday would put the U.S. first in the group and could made it the top seed in the knockout round.The boom or bust potential of the youngest team in the tournament was on full display against Canada, a bigger, stronger and more experienced opponent. With Claude Julien back behind the bench two weeks after breaking his ribs in a sledding accident, the Canadians figured to use their size and physicality to wear down the smaller Americans over the course of 60 minutes.Instead, the U.S. — with 12 college players on the ice — went hit for hit with Canada and used a combination of offensive skill and bad opposing goaltending to take control of the game.Mann had his own dose of bad goaltending on Mat Robinson’s goal for Canada 1:24 in, a shot from the boards 40 feet away that beat him clean. Mann settled in and only allowed Corban Knight’s short-handed goal the rest of the way and was at his best during a late penalty kill that included 31 seconds of 5-on-3.Canada had barely been able to think about playing with the lead when Miele scored on a 2-on-1 rush at the 2:34 mark. Mann settled in and kept the score tied while Canada had 11 of the game’s first 14 shots.The U.S. took over midway through the first and went ahead with 1:14 left in the period when Farrell set up Meyers for his second goal of the tournament. Farrell, a Montreal Canadiens prospect who plays at Harvard, has six points on three goals and three assists.In the midst of a lengthy shot drought for Canada, Pasquale gave the U.S. a gift early in the second period by flubbing the puck behind the net, and Brisson fired the puck into a wide-open net. Knight cut the U.S. lead to 3-2 before the second intermission, but a turnover by Canada defenseman Maxim Noreau set up Kenny Agostino to score another soft goal on Pasquale with 13:47 left in the third.Pasquale allowed four goals on 27 shots.The U.S. has certainly settled in at the Olympics after opening with an 8-0 rout of host China. That even includes North Dakota defenseman Jake Sanderson, who didn’t look like he missed a step in his first game after arriving late Wednesday. Sanderson had been stuck in Los Angeles after testing positive for the coronavirus.The U.S. and Canada faced off at the Olympics for the first time since the semifinals at the 2014 Sochi Games, the last time NHL players participated. Canada won that game 1-0 on the way to a second consecutive gold medal.NOTES: Nick Shore replaced longtime Detroit Red Wings center Justin Abdelkader in the U.S. lineup after being a healthy scratch in the opener against China. … Julien reassumed coaching duties from Jeremy Colliton.

BEIJING —

The United States took all the questions about youth and inexperience and had all the answers against Canada.

Andy Miele responded to Canada’s early goal by tying it 70 seconds later, Brendan Brisson scored his second of the Olympics and the Americans beat their biggest rival 4-2 Saturday to put them in the driver’s seat to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament.

Sean Farrell also set up Ben Meyers to give him three assists and six points and goaltender Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the U.S. improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round. Beating Germany on Sunday would put the U.S. first in the group and could made it the top seed in the knockout round.

The boom or bust potential of the youngest team in the tournament was on full display against Canada, a bigger, stronger and more experienced opponent. With Claude Julien back behind the bench two weeks after breaking his ribs in a sledding accident, the Canadians figured to use their size and physicality to wear down the smaller Americans over the course of 60 minutes.

Instead, the U.S. — with 12 college players on the ice — went hit for hit with Canada and used a combination of offensive skill and bad opposing goaltending to take control of the game.

Mann had his own dose of bad goaltending on Mat Robinson’s goal for Canada 1:24 in, a shot from the boards 40 feet away that beat him clean. Mann settled in and only allowed Corban Knight’s short-handed goal the rest of the way and was at his best during a late penalty kill that included 31 seconds of 5-on-3.

Canada had barely been able to think about playing with the lead when Miele scored on a 2-on-1 rush at the 2:34 mark. Mann settled in and kept the score tied while Canada had 11 of the game’s first 14 shots.

The U.S. took over midway through the first and went ahead with 1:14 left in the period when Farrell set up Meyers for his second goal of the tournament. Farrell, a Montreal Canadiens prospect who plays at Harvard, has six points on three goals and three assists.

In the midst of a lengthy shot drought for Canada, Pasquale gave the U.S. a gift early in the second period by flubbing the puck behind the net, and Brisson fired the puck into a wide-open net. Knight cut the U.S. lead to 3-2 before the second intermission, but a turnover by Canada defenseman Maxim Noreau set up Kenny Agostino to score another soft goal on Pasquale with 13:47 left in the third.

Pasquale allowed four goals on 27 shots.

The U.S. has certainly settled in at the Olympics after opening with an 8-0 rout of host China. That even includes North Dakota defenseman Jake Sanderson, who didn’t look like he missed a step in his first game after arriving late Wednesday. Sanderson had been stuck in Los Angeles after testing positive for the coronavirus.

The U.S. and Canada faced off at the Olympics for the first time since the semifinals at the 2014 Sochi Games, the last time NHL players participated. Canada won that game 1-0 on the way to a second consecutive gold medal.

NOTES: Nick Shore replaced longtime Detroit Red Wings center Justin Abdelkader in the U.S. lineup after being a healthy scratch in the opener against China. … Julien reassumed coaching duties from Jeremy Colliton.