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Written by The Staff
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Wednesday, 24 February 2010 19:25 |
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Early on, we declared that America's medal hopes rested on the shoulders of East Lansing, Michigan's Ryan Miller. He's proving worthy of the challenge. His 19 save effort in the quarterfinals kept a gritty Swiss team off the board and gave his teammates enough time to rally and put the puck in the net.
Jonas Hiller, Switzerland's fantastic goalie complicated that latter task. He was nothing short of brilliant in fending of US scoring opportunities for 42 minutes. He stopped 42 of the 43 shots he faced and kept his nation's hopes alive to the very end of the contest.
To solve Hiller Team USA needed a man advantage. They got one less than two minutes into the final period. With Philippe Furrer banished to the box for tripping, the US went on the attack. Zach Parise scored his first goal twelve seconds into the power play. Brian Raflaski (where have I heard that name before) and Paul Stastny assisted on the score.
As time ran down, and fans edged closer to the action, the one goal lead seemed far too little. The Swiss were pressing, desperate to force overtime when four on four hockey meant a more open style of play and one fewer American throwing himself into a check. They yanked Hiller as time bled out.
But Parise made the Swiss pay for their daring. With twelve seconds to go, he iced the game, putting the puck in the unguarded Swiss net.
The complexion of the game was almost altered with time expiring in the second period. Team USA was skating circles around the Swiss for much of the game. It appeared that Team USA had scored in the waning seconds. But the goal was disallowed with the officials saying time had expired before the puck crossed the goal line. Could have been a much different game if the goal had not been disallowed. Another .02 and it was probably a goal, it was that close.
Switzerland put up a good fight but they just didn't have anywhere near the offense necessary to beat Miller and the US.
Crafting a shutout has been a challenge for US netminders. Miller snapped an eight year drought by stopping 19 shots and holding the fort. It was two Olympics ago in Salt Lake City in the quarterfinal round when Mike Richter blanked Germany. That US team went on to win the silver, losing to Canada in the gold medal game. This year's entrant can do no worse than play for a medal.
To earn the right to play for Gold, Team USA must topple the winner of the Finland-Czech Republic game set to begin at 7:00 pm in Vancouver (10:00 pm eastern time). We'll have a preview of the semifinal matchup posted tomorrow.
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