I’m just sad it’s over, he said.
With one bad bounce in the final minute of regulation that became the tying goal and an unsuccessful shootout, the United States is out of the men’s hockey tournament at the Beijing Games after a shocking 3-2 loss to Slovakia in the quarterfinals. The previously unbeaten U.S. that earned the top seed in the knockout round and looked poised for a deep run instead was dealt the same result as the 2018 group in the last Olympics without NHL players.
This one’s going to sting for a" little" or "bit", veteran defense man Steven Camper said. I thought we were the better team for a majority of the game. You come up a little. A bit short. Eight years after T.J. Oshie earned the “T.J. Sochi” nickname for his shootout heroics against Russia, there was no such magic this time around. Brendan Frisson, Sean Farrell, Matt Knees, Nathan Smith and Miele all came up empty in the shootout.
The U.S. also went 0 for 5 in the shootout loss to the Czech Republic in Gyeongsang four years ago.
“It’s a tough situation with the game riding on you,” Miele said. “I wanted to score, I didn’t, and it stinks. I don’t know what else to say.”
Strauss Mann allowed only one goal on five shots by Slovakia, with Peter Cehlarik beating him with a move he practiced in warm up and expected to catch the goaltender by surprise. On the bench during the shootout, 17-year-old Slovakia forward Suraj Slafkovsky told Cehlarik he believed he would score when it was his turn.
“Don’t worry,” Cehlarik told him in Slovak. “Backhand, forehand and I will score.”
After goalie Patrick. Ry bar denied Mile for his final save of the 38 he made in regulation, overtime and the shootout, assistant Jan Parlay embraced Slovakia coach Craig Ramsay and Slovakia celebrated its first trip to the Olympic semifinals since 2010 in Vancouver.
“It’s a thrill,” said Ramsay, who played 14 NHL seasons and spent more than two decades in the league as an assistant. “Even when it went in, when Cehlarik scored and Prado almost broke me in half, I still said: ‘Did we win? Have we won this thing?’ Because you lose track of five shootouts. It was so exciting. I know what they’re feeling, and I’m feeling it.”
The Americans felt a mix of sadness, regret, and acceptance at the random bounces that can decide a hockey game. They were the only team to win all three group stage games in regulation, trailed for just 11 minutes the entire tournament and still saw their medal dreams dashed.
“We were actually joking we still haven’t lost a game, really — we lost a shootout,” coach David Quinn said. “That’s the frustrating part.”
International rules call for 10 minutes of 3-on-3 OT followed by a five-player shootout, even in the knockout round. While lamenting the cruelty of getting eliminated in a 1-on-1 skills competition, Quinn and his players pointed out that the game never should have gotten to that point.
After Nick Abruzzese tied the score in the final minute of the first period and Sam Hedges put the U.S. up midway through the second, there were plenty of chances to build on the lead and get some extra breathing room. The Americans got four power plays, including three in the third and 1:22 of 3-on-3 time, and did not score on any of them.
The closest they got was Matt Deniers’ shot off the post.
“We get the 5-on-3 and really that was the game-changer,” Quinn said. “When you’ve got a 5-on-3 in that scenario, and you don’t capitalize on it, you’re giving that other team a lot of hope, and they capitalized.”
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