USA roll over Slovakia

The atmosphere was great in a full Shayba Arena, the smaller venue during the Olympic ice hockey tournament, mostly used for women's hockey, in anticipation of two teams who had gained good results in big tournaments in reecent years. While the Americans won silver during the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010, the Slovakians won the same medal during the 2012 IIHF World Championship.

The US boys started very offensive, led by a strong Phil Kessel who is on a run in the NHL for his team Toronto Maple Leafs and was able to adjust easily to the national team and the bigger ice in Sochi. Just 50 seconds were played when he was stopped in a 1-on-1 by Jaroslav Halak. A few minutes later he left a puck for Dustin Brown whose one-timer from within the slot was also a victim of the gloves of the Slovak goalie. In the first 20 minutes the match was still very even and with their few attacks the Slovakians manaeged to create some danger in front of US goalie Jonathan Quick. One of these chances was a 3-on-2 counter at 14:13 but they missed the right corner just by inches. This was punished 23 seconds later in the following attack when Phil Kessel left the puck for John Carlson who fired it into the left top corner for the well-deserved American lead. Richard Panik for Slovakia and Joe Pavelksi for Team USA both could have added more goals in the period but the goalies on both ends did a good job.

The second period couldn't have started much better for Slovakia as Tomas Tatar intercepted a misdirected pass by Ryan Suter at the American blue line, deked out two opponents and fired the puck into the right top corner past the chanceless Jonathan Quick. Instead of giving the Slovakians a boost, the goal provoked aggressive attacks by the Americans. Just 62 seconds were played until Ryan Kesler one-timed the puck from the right cirlce after getting it by Patrick Kane who was very active throughout the whole game. Only one minute later Jaroslav Halak stopped a one-timer by Max Pacioretty after a cross-pass by TJ Oshie but the following rebound was put into the wide open net by Paul Stastny whose family has still strong ties to Slovakia, the birthplace of his parents.

In the 28th minute Tomas Tatar tried to give a cross-pass to team mate Milan Bartovic during a 3-on-2 shothanded break away but Joe Pavelski went in between with his stick to deflect the puck to the side. Just half a minute later and after the American power play had ended they made the 4-1 when David Backes battled a puck from a sharp angle over the goal line out of a crowd of at least 6 players in front of the Slovakian net when the defense of the Central Europeans failed to clear the situation. A tip in below the pads of Halak by Paul Stastny for his second of the day from the goalie crease after a cross-pass by TJ Oshie let the last hopes of the Slovaks fade.

The consequence was a goaltender change - Jaroslav Halak who was the key for his team not to fall back by a larger margin in the first period was replaced by Peter Budaj - but the bleeding didn't yet stop. Phil Kessel with a deflection at the right post after a brilliant long pass from the left circle by Toronto team mate James van Riemsdyk and Dustin Brown after being let alown at the left post following a pass by John Carlson beat Budaj with the very first two shots he even faced. The coaching staff of the Slovakians took the more than necessary time out and afterwards thir defense finally stablilied. The Americans took their feet from the gas and just did what was necessary to defend this big six-goal lead. In the third period Slovakia had a couple of decent scoring oppotunities but it was not more than a practice game for the North Americans who were able to save energy for their Saturday game against tournament hosts Russia. There we will see if the USA are really that strong or if the result was rather the consequence of the weak defense of the Slovakians.

After a 3-3 in Lillehammer 1994 and a 1-2 loss in Turin 2006 this was the first win for Team USA in the third attempt at Olympic Games against the young Slovakian nation. 

The magnitude of the results was a surprise also for US captain Zach Parise: "You never really expect to beat a team like that 7-1. You never do it in a tournament like this. They are a tough team but we moved the puck well and skated well. Then we capitalised on our chances. You're always nervous starting a tournament. Once we got our second goal we moved up several gears."

Defenceman John Carlson passed quickly: "That was a pretty cool way to start the Olympics. I think that goal made us all feel more relaxed."

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