Olympic Hockey News And Update – February 15
By Traci Kay
Photo Credit: ©Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
2/14/2014
Slovenia took on Slovakia overnight and came out on top with a 3-1 win. After a third period that was dominated by Slovenia, Anze Kopitar scored one of the three goals to help lift the Slovenes over Team Slovakia.
Team USA and Team Russia went head to head early this morning in an incredible tilt that ended up into the eighth round of a shootout. T.J. Oshie was the star of the game as he made 4 of his 6 shots to help Team USA win. Olympic hockey rules are different than the NHL rules in that the Olympics allow players to shoot as often as they want after the first three rounds. Pavel Datsyuk was Oshie’s main opponent in the shootout for the Russian team, shooting three times. Yet his one goal wasn’t enough to lift the Russians over Team USA.
Switzerland had a shutout win over the Czech Republic with a final score 1-0. Reto Berra was not in net for Switzerland (Jonas Hiller started) after the Swiss lost their last game to Sweden. But, the other Calgary Flames player in Sochi, Ladislav Smid, was on defense for the Czech Republic. Smid was on the ice for over 18 minutes and did a great job of pinning his opponents against the boards so his team could dig out the puck. He worked hard for his national team even though the end result wasn’t what they wanted.
Sweden dominated Latvia with a score of 5-3. Daniel Alfredsson has been quite the presence for Team Sweden during the Olympics so far, notching another goal today. Sweden is at the head of Group C in the round-robin.
Tomorrow’s line-up of games include Austria vs. Norway, Russia vs. Sloakia, and Slovenia vs. USA.