Sochi 2014: Mens Results Group A 02/15

Slovakia v Slovenia 1-3 - Slovenia wanted to deliver a statement to the hockey world at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. On Saturday afternoon at the Bolshoy Ice Dome, that statement was broadcast loud and clear for all to hear. This was a history-in-the-making triumph against Slovakia, a 3-1 upset in Group A that delivered the tiny country its first Olympic hockey victory in its second game.

"I sure hope they are not going to mix us up with Slovakia anymore like everybody does," said Anze Kopitar, the only NHL player on the Slovenian team. "We've waited for this for a long time, we have believed in this for a long, long time. We've been waiting to knock off a big hockey country and the Slovaks were world champs, finished fourth in Vancouver [Olympics], I believe, us, just to qualify [for the Olympics] was a big deal. If we weren't on the hockey map before, we are now. That's a huge accomplishment for me, for every young player that decides to play hockey back home."

It was an accomplishment almost unimaginable before it played out starting at noon at Bolshoy. Slovenia is a country of fewer than 2 million people. According to the International Ice Hockey Federation, the country has 148 registered senior male players, seven ice rinks, one fully professional team and is No. 17 in the IIHF rankings. Slovakia almost won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, beating Russia and Sweden before a semifinal loss to Canada and a bronze-medal loss to Finland. In the past 16 years, it has medaled four times at the IIHF World Championship, including a gold in 2002. Slovakia Is No. 7 in the IIHF rankings. The teams had played eight times previously and Slovakia had won all eight, compiling a plus-25 goal differential. Slovenia had two top-division wins in its history, each in a relegation round of a World Championship: Austria (2005) and Latvia (2008). It had lost the other 27 top-flight national-team matches it played.

"Unbelievable, we just beat a great team, great players, great individuals, but we were ready today from the first drop because against Russia in the first few minutes we were sloppy," said forward Roc Ticar, who scored the first goal Saturday. "Today, we were ready from first minute."

Slovenia withstood an early push from Slovakia, which was looking to avenge a 7-1 pasting by the United States on Thursday, thanks to the play of goalie Robert Kristan. The game then shifted into a more back-and forth pattern for the first two periods. But the third period was all Slovenia. Ticar started a six-minute span that will be the defining moment of his country's hockey history long after all of these players have hung up their skates. On the power play, Ticar took a pass from Ziga Jeglic and used a bit of skill and a bit of luck to score the biggest goal of his and his country's hockey careers.

"It was important goal, but it was important that we keep battling. This goal, I knew it would come. It was a little bit luck," Ticar said. "I got the pass in my skate, put it to the stick and I tried to shoot high, I can't lie about that, and the puck went between the legs. This time, I have the luck."

Slovakia goalie Jaroslav Halak also couldn't lie. He knew his play on that goal, which came 3:23 into the period, was a grave mistake, one that gave his opponent confidence and doomed the hopes of his team.

"I think the first goal, that was a really weak goal for me," said Halak, who was pulled in the game against the Americans. "I think that kind of set the tone for the rest of the period for us. If we're going to blame somebody, I'll take the full blame for this loss."

It is extra painful for Slovakia, which could finish last in Group A and face a much tougher opponent in the qualification playoff Tuesday. Slovakia plays Russia on Sunday in its final preliminary game. But the road to a medal, or even the quarterfinals, may be the last thing on the minds of the Slovakians, who have been outscored 10-2 in their two losses.

"I don't think we're thinking of winning the gold medal," said forward Tomas Jurco, whose power-play goal with 17.8 seconds remaining spoiled Kristan's shutout bid. "Everybody knows where we are at. I just want to win some games so we can make people proud back home, but so far it is not going well for us. I'm sorry for the people who have to watch it."

The Slovenians were just getting warmed up after Ticar's goal. Captain Tomas Razingar beat NHL star Zdeno Chara to a rebound and slammed the puck home at 8:59 for a 2-0 lead. Kopitar, the country's biggest star and son of national team coach Matjaz Kopitar, delivered the exclamation point with a goal of uncompromising skill and beauty. Carrying the puck along the half board, Kopitar skated through the check of Tomas Surovy, sending the Slovakian forward sprawling to the ice. Kopitar cut across the face of the first Slovakian defenseman, using a nifty piece of stickhandling to avoid trouble before gliding to the far circle and firing a wrist shot past a scrambling Halak at 9:22.

"I fought off my guy in the corner and I knew I had a little bit of time and we had numbers going to the front of the net," Kopitar said. "I was just trying to be as patient as I can and it worked out for me."

The Slovenians were all hockey idols Saturday afternoon, basking in the glory of making Olympic history. Kopitar's teammates weren't buying his attempt to soft-sell the goal. It was unreal," said Jeglic, who had both of Slovenia's goals against Russia. "He scored that goal for us and it was so important. We were just like, 'Wow, what is going on?' We just tried to keep it calm and hold up to our game plan."

Ticar said, "It's so much fun to watch him. Hockey looks so easy when he has the puck. He's a big idol for us."

"It's definitely going to stay with me for a long, long time," Kopitar said, breaking into an uncontrollable smile.

USA v Russia 3-2 SO (Official Score) 1-3 (Actual Score) - After playing 65 minutes of even hockey they'll likely never forget, 20 players wearing the red, white and blue became spectators with the best seats in the house for one of the most intense spectacles they'll likely ever see. It took an eight-round shootout featuring some of the most skilled shooters in the world before a winner could be determined in what was arguably the most anticipated and hyped international hockey game since Canada and the United States played for the gold medal in Vancouver four years ago. St. Louis Blues forward T.J. Oshie was the scoring champion, going 4-for-6 in the shootout, to lift the United States to a 3-2 win against Russia in a circus-like atmosphere featuring 11,678 people packed into Bolshoy Ice Dome on Saturday blowing air horns, waving flags, and some even dressed as flags. This was only a preliminary-round game. It's possible the Americans and Russians could play again later in the tournament when it's win-or-else time. Oshie scored in the first, fifth, sixth and eighth rounds of the shootout. Jonathan Quick's glove save on Ilya Kovalchuk in the top of the eighth round gave Oshie the chance to win the game by beating Russia goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for the winner in the bottom half. Oshie's goals in the fifth and sixth rounds kept the shootout alive. Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk, who had both of Russia's goals in regulation, gave the Russians a 2-1 shootout lead in the fifth round, but Oshie scored to tie it. Kovalchuk made it 3-2 in the sixth, but Oshie beat Bobrovsky with a shot into the top right corner to tie it again. International Ice Hockey Federation rules allow coaches to select a player to shoot multiple times if the shootout extends beyond the third round. Bylsma said there was zero consideration among the coaches on the bench toward going with someone other than Oshie, who is 7-for-10 (70 percent) in the shootout this season and 25-for-46 (54.3 percent) with 12 game-deciding goals in his career. Oshie joked he was glad to end the shootout when he did because he was running out of moves. Ironically, he didn't score on two of his better moves; he missed wide to the right of an open net in the fourth round, and Bobrovsky came up with a majestic, reaching-back paddle save to stop him in the seventh.

"Oshie's been outstanding and by far has the best numbers on our team history-wise, and this year in particular," Bylsma said. "Once we got to the fourth shooter, with the quality of moves he had, we were going to ride him out."

"Somebody asked me what kind of dog he would be if he was a dog?" said David Backes, Oshie's teammate with the Blues and his roommate here in Sochi. "I said, 'He's a Jack Russell terrier.' He needs his attention directed or else he gets into a little mischief and he needs it guided. Today it was all functioned and funneled in the right way. He does some amazing things when it is."

Of course one of the greatest shoot-outs should never have happened. The Russians had taken a 3-2 lead with 4:40 left in the third period when Fedor Tyutin's shot from the point was deflected in front by Alexander Radulov and past Quick (29 saves) high to the glove side. However, after referee Brad Meier pointed at the net to signify it was a goal, the referees conferred and decided to take a closer look. Television replays showed the net was slightly dislodged at the right post at the time the puck went in, so the officials took the goal away by following IIHF rules, which state no goal shall be allowed "if the net has been displaced from its normal position, or the frame of the goal net is not completely flat on the ice." The fact the rule seems a harsh one given it is different to the NHL ones and was barely from its rightful spot, seems all the more worse when you see US goaltender Quick kicks it off with his skate, and could have been called for a delaying the game penalty.

In regards to the disallowed goal Saturday, the IIHF stated: "Upon reviewing the goal, the net had clearly been displaced prior to the puck going into the net. ... The IIHF referee supervisor Konstantin Komissarov confirmed that the ruling made by referees Brad Meier and Markus Vinnerborg was the correct call and that the proper procedure had been followed with regards to the video review."

Bylsma said he never received an explanation as to why the goal was not allowed. He obviously wasn't complaining. "I still don't know if it was a high stick or the net went off the mooring or God went in there and stopped it," Backes said. "I'm not sure."

The Russians rightly blamed Quick for knocking the net off himself. Slava Voynov, Quick's teammate with the Los Angeles Kings, told reporters in Russian that he has seen the goalie do it before. "I don't know what happened there, but definitely was a goal," Russia and Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin said. "Nobody touched the net. Their goalie touched the net and put it out. But the referee has to see it and at least give him two minutes, you know?"

The United States took a shock 2-1 lead at 9:27 of the third period when Pavelski scored the Americans' second power-play goal of the game with Radulov in the penalty box for a very harsh call from the AMERICAN referee. Radulov was also in the box when Anaheim Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler scored a game-tying power play goal with 3:26 left to play in the second period. That goal came more than seven minutes after Datsyuk gave the Russians a 1-0 lead. However, Russia tied the game at 2-2 less than three minutes after Pavelski's goal as Datsyuk scored his second of the game, and the Russians' first on five power-play opportunities. The officials calls were puzzling, at times they seemed to let massive cross-checks go especially one late in the game by the Americans, yet call any minor infractation the Russians may or may not have comitted in what was an act of biased offiacting. Patrick Kane had a chance to win the game midway through overtime when he was sprung for a breakaway. He tried to go five-hole, but Bobrovsky closed his pads just in time. The Americans would have poured over the boards had Kane scored right then and there, but they had to wait, and wait, and wait some more before Oshie and Quick did enough so all 22 players, the coaching staff and really an entire nation of hockey fans could breathe a sigh of relief and start their celebration.

"I'm going to be in bed [Saturday night] thinking about it," Fowler said, "and I'll be thinking about it for the rest of my career."

"I aged a couple of years in that shootout," United States coach Dan Bylsma said.

"It was awesome," U.S. center Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks said. "Whatever type of game you want to explain it as, it was that."

"Play the same game and we'll win," Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin said of Russia. "It was a good game, very interesting, the best game we played so far. We showed great hockey."

The Americans can clinch first place in Group A and receive a bye into the quarterfinals when they play Slovenia on Sunday. They can finish with the No. 2 or No. 3 seed, depending on the result of the Canada-Finland game Sunday night. The U.S. can't finish with the No. 1 seed after losing one point because the game went to overtime. Teams get three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, and one point for an overtime or shootout loss. Russia still has a shot at clinching the top spot in Group A, but they need to beat Slovakia on Sunday and get some help from Slovenia. The U.S. leads the group with five points to Russia's four.