US Men draw Swiss in Olympic Hockey Quarterfinals
Ron Wilson coaches the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL, but has shaped the US Olympic Men's Hockey Team into a contender for the Gold
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The United States Olympic Men’s Hockey Team will face the Swiss Olympic Team tomorrow afternoon, three days after upsetting the favored Canadian Team in the Group Round. Team Switzerland defeated Team Belarus in the Qualification Round today 3-2, setting up the US-Swiss Quarterfinals matchup Wednesday, February 24th at 12:00pm PST (3:00pm EST).
The victory over Canada earned the US a Bye to the Quarterfinal Round, while Canada went on to face Germany in a Qualifying Match for the right to play the 3rd seeded Russian Men. Team USA’s #1 seed out of Group Play afforded the team a chance to rest after their pitched battle vs Team Canada. The Americans rested Monday & Tuesday, waiting for the outcome of Tuesday’s Switzerland-Belarus game to find out which team would be their Quarterfinals opponent.
Interestingly, Team USA and Team Switzerland have already played in this Olympic Tournament, as they both came out of Group A. The US beat the Swiss 3-1 on Tuesday, February 16th, the first game of the Men’s Hockey Tournament. The United States had some unlikely heroes in a game that could have gone either way. Bobby Ryan (Anaheim Ducks), David Backes (St Louis Blues), and Ryan Malone (Tampa Bay Lightning) scored for the United States against stand-out Swiss Goalie Jonas Hiller.
Hiller also plays for the Mighty Ducks, and the first goal of the game by NHL teammate Ryan broke an early back-and-forth between the teams. Were it not for that crucial turning point, this tournament may have worked out very differently. The American Team had not played together in a fully competitive atmosphere previous to their game versus the Swiss, and it was the team’s bruisers & muckers that were the difference-makers.
This time around, expect the United States to employ a similar strategy of pounding the Swiss into submission. Team Switzerland was talented enough to give #1 seed Team USA a run for their money, also taking #6 seed Team Canada all the way to a shootout. Canada won that game on the strength of goaltender Marty Brodeur’s one-on-one skills. US goaltender Ryan Miller will have to be every inch the stopper that he was against the Canadians to defeat the sharp-shooting Swiss tomorrow.
As well as Team Switzerland played so far this tournament, Team USA is most definitely the superior squad. American coach Ron Wilson (Toronto Maple Leafs) will not let the US play down to the Swiss, so don’t expect a let-down game after the big US victory over Canada. Jonas Hiller will keep Switzerland in the game for a while, but eventually the US will wear down the Swiss with tight checking and relentless attack. Expect the United States to win by two goals or more on their way to playing either Finland, Latvia or the Czech Republic in the Semifinals.
Meanwhile, Team Canada must finish beating Team Germany tonight (at this writing they have a 3-0 2nd Period lead) before playing Russia in the Quarterfinals and then either Sweden, Slovakia or Norway in the Semifinals. Behind new goalie Robert Luongo, I expect Team Canada to find their way to a rematch with Team USA in Sunday’s 2010 Winter Olympics Gold Medal game.
