Team USA is unable to score in the shootout and loses 3-2 to the Czechs.
By Brandon Schlager
Looking back on the 2018 Winter Olympics, the legacy for this iteration of the U.S. men’s hockey team will be remembered in two words: Missed opportunities.
A 3-2 shootout loss to the Czech Republic in Tuesday’s quarterfinals sealed the fate of the Americans, who failed to reach the medal round at the Olympics for the first time since 2008. And although U.S. medal aspirations were fuzzy without NHL players on the roster, a tournament marred by inconsistency qualifies as an abject disappointment, if only because Team USA was capable of delivering much more.
Their final game in Pyeongchang was emblematic of that.
Riding the high of a five-goal outburst 24 hours earlier, the U.S. set the tone against the Czechs when Ryan Donato continued his storybook tournament with the game’s first goal 6:20 in — his Olympic-leading fifth goal. But Team USA squandered what should have been easy momentum, falling into penalty trouble and taking their foot off the gas.
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The Czech Republic, a perfect 3-0 in group play, is a mature and even-keeled group. Adept at playing together and on larger international ice, they baited the Americans into a trap and dominated possession during the second period and parts of the third. A Tomas Kundratek goal, the second by a Czechs defenseman, made it 2-1 in the second. And if not for Jim Slater’s unlikely goal with the U.S. shorthanded for a third time in the period, the Czechs might’ve run away with the game.
The U.S. also failed to capitalize on their five power plays, including a slashing penalty called with 1:20 left in regulation, giving them 40 seconds of 4-on-3 power play in overtime.
They failed to register a shot.
“We couldn’t put it together. We looked scrambled in that key moment,” (Greece native and) captain Brian Gionta said on NBC.
If not for starting goalie Ryan Zapolski, the U.S. surely would have lost in regulation. He kept them in it most of the game, stopping 26 of 28 shots, and was equally stellar in the shootout. The lone slip-up came in the second round, when Petr Koukal beat him, joining Czech shootout lore. The American shooters couldn’t muster a single goal on Pavel Francouz, who saw minimal work in regulation with just 20 shots against. The U.S. had averaged 32 for the tournament.
The Czechs advance to face either Norway or the Olympic Athletes from Russia in the semifinals, guaranteeing they’ll at least have a shot at bronze. That should have been the Americans’ fate. The 23-man roster, composed by the late general manager Jim Johansson, was inherently flawed but still included 15 players with NHL experience that should have challenged other nations missing their best players, too.
In the end, a premature elimination for the Americans is about what could be expected. They managed only two wins in Pyeongchang — both against Slovakia. It turned out the three collegiates on the team were Team USA’s greatest asset. Donato, Troy Terry and Jordan Greenway had a hand in nine of the 11 goals the U.S. scored at the Olympics.
Team USA has failed to medal in eight of the 10 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournaments since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980. Let that sink in.
A star-studded roster of Patrick Kane (Chicago), Auston Matthews (Toronto) and Jack Eichel (Buffalo) was supposed to lead the U.S. to challenge for gold. Instead, with the NHL staying home, USA Hockey is left to pick up the pieces, wondering what exactly it missed out on.