USA Men’s Hockey loses opening game of Olympics
By Peter Spetelunas 2/15/2018
Courtesy of Creative Commons
It’s not the way the American men’s hockey team want to start the Olympics. Team USA lost to underdog Slovenia, blowing an early lead and losing 3-2 in overtime. For the first time since 1994, the men’s team does not have a current NHL player on it’s roster, relying instead of former and future NHL talent.
The U.S. dominated play in the early going. Brian O’Neill got things started, scoring the opening goal after a slick feed by forward Garrett Roe from behind the opposing net.
The score remained unchanged until forward Jordan Greenway scored off of Bobby Sanguinetti’s slap shot that gave the Americans a 2-0 lead.
But Slovenia showed resilience and stunned Team USA in the third period. After Jan Urbas scored an early goal in the third, Team Slovenia kept the pressure up and eventually got their reward.
Jan Mursak dramatic goal late in the period came as the Slovenians started to feel the pressure of the clock, they pulled their goalie to allow an extra skater on the ice. Mursak took this opportunity and scored his tying goal to even the score at 2 and force overtime..
Although team USA outshot Slovenia in all three periods, it was clear that Slovenia had all the momentum and carried into OT. They quickly scored off another Mursak goal, clinching a win in the opening game of the Group B matchups.
Team USA will look to rebound and remain in medal contention on Thursday night at 7:10 a.m. (EST) against Slovakia’s national team, who is coming off an upset win of their own against the Russian’s.
Stay tuned to webn.tv for more coverage and reaction throughout the week.