BEIJING — The U.S. men’s hockey team was less than a minute from making the medal round. Instead, the U.S. will have nothing to show for what was an impressive showing at the Beijing Olympics – until disaster struck in the quarterfinals against Slovakia on Wednesday.
With the goalie pulled and a one-man advantage, Marek Hrivik tied the game for Slovakia with 43.7 seconds left in regulation. In the 10-minute, sudden-death 3-on-3 overtime, neither team scored. The drought continued in the shootout until Peter Cehlarik scored on the fourth attempt. The U.S. failed to score on all five penalty shot attempt and are going home after a 3-2 defeat.
Sam Hentges provided a go-ahead score for the U.S. with 11:04 to go in the second period after Nathan Smith skated through the neutral zone, which the U.S. largely controlled all game, and dished the puck to Nick Perbix. Perbix found Hentges right in front of Slovakian oaltender Patrik Rybar, and the St. Cloud Sate forward easily found the back of the net for the 2-1 U.S. lead.
The score remained that way for the final 31 minutes, even though Matty Beniers (one assist) nearly added an insurance goal by hitting the post inside of 12 minutes, and the U.S. couldn’t score during 1:23 of a 5-on-3 advantage before that.
On the defensive end, the U.S. continued sacrificing their bodies and blocking shots to keep life somewhat easy for goaltender Strauss Mann. In his second victory of the tournament (Canada), Mann finished with 35…
