Friday, February 22, 2002
USA beats Russia again to reach gold medal game
By CHRIS STEVENSON -- SLAM! Sports
SALT LAKE CITY - Maybe the Russians should just forget about playing the USA in hockey on Feb. 22 at the Olympics.
On the 22nd anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, the Americans did it to the Russians again and now it will be an all North-American final in the gold medal game Sunday afternoon.
Canada will have its hands full Sunday with an American team that jumped out in front of the Russians with an outstanding opening 40 minutes and then hung on for a 3-2 win as the Russians staged a furious third-period rally.
Only some outstanding goaltending by American goaltender Mike Richter kept the Americans from blowing a three-goal lead.
"All the hockey fans around the world are going to be treated to one of the greatest hockey games you"ll ever see," said American forward Jeremy Roenick of Sunday's matchup against Team Canada. "I don't think there will be one person on the street anywhere in Canada Sunday afternoon."
Sunday's gold medal game will be a rematch of the 1996 World Cup final in which the Americans prevails.
"It's going to be like going from the frying pan into the fireplace," said American coach Herb Brooks. "Canada is an excellent hockey club. Kevin Lowe and Wayne Gretzky have put together a great team. They can beat you in various ways. We know them and they know us. There are no secrets. It's going to be a great game."
After opening up a 3-0 lead after two periods on power-play goals from Bill Guerin, Scott Young and Phil Housley - and outshooting the Russians 38-11 in the process - the Americans saw the Russians storm back with a pair of early third-period goals.
Alexei Kovalev held off American defenceman Gary Suter to jump on a cross-corner shoot-in and slip a backhander under Richter just 11 seconds into the third. At 3:21, defenceman Vladimir Malakhov pounced on a bad clearing attempt and ripped a shot in off the foot of American defenceman Phil Housley.
All the momentum the Americans had built for themselves over the opening 40 minutes evaporated like that.
Brooks called a timeout.
He didn't have much to say, figuring speeches at that point only confuse the issue.
"When players ask you the time of day," he said afterwards, "you can't tell them about the country of Switzerland. We have certain key words we implemented last September that would trigger a thought process and a reaction and I just mentioned that one word."
The Russians came close to tying it with American Brett Hull off for hooking halfway through the third, but first Richter made the save of the game, getting his glove on a shot by Sergei Samsonov and then Samsonov rang a shot off the post.
The flurry ended when Roenick slid across the crease and smothered another shot.
"We came out thinking they were going to roll over and they didn't," said Hull. "They are so good and so skilled. They are not the Russians they were.
That first goal was kinda lucky, but it gave them momentum. We had to regroup and we did."
"That was an important eye-opener for us tonight," said American forward Doug Weight. "
Team USA came out with a withering attack that put the Russians on their heels.
The Americans peppered Russian goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin with 20 shots in the first period while allowing only four on Richter.
Guerin put the Americans up 1-0 at 15:56 of the first with Russia's Andrei Nikolishin in the penalty box with a bad penalty, a trip on USA defenseman Brian Leetch about 195 feet away from the Russian net.
Khabibulin stopped a shot, but defenceman Dany Markov kicked the rebound out into the slot and onto Guerin's stick. With Khabulin down and American forward Adam Deadmarsh screening, Guerin fired home his fourth goal of the tournament.
The American power play struck again 7:31 of the second with Darius Kasparaitis off for roughing. Young, who typified the American hustle, took a shot that Khabibulin got a piece of, but it popped up and over the goal line.
Defenceman Phil Housley made it 3-0 with just over two minutes to go in the second when he jumped on another long rebound and snapped a shot under Khabibulin's arm.
The Russians, whose Olympic committee had threatened not to play the game because of issues they had with judging at these Games, were furious with the work of referee Bill McCreary.
Defenceman Dany Markov was assessed a gross misconduct penalty at the end of the game for verbal abuse of an official and will be suspended for the bronze medal game Saturday against Belarus.
Russian coach Slava Fetisov said the tournament was rigged to get the Americans and Canadians in the final.
"It's great that it's Canada and the U.S.," said USA forward Doug Weight. "It makes for a great story. It's perfect. It's what everyone was hoping for."
Well, maybe not everyone.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
