The men’s Olympic hockey team is anonymous when you enter the games with a team of college kids and NHL members brought in in a short, but so far, so good time for the United States.
Team USA advanced into their group on Saturday with an impressive 4-2 victory over Canada, the Americans’ first win over their northern rivals since the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. With a dominant win over China already, Germany won and would give the US a group win and put it right in the quarter-finals.
Four different skaters presented goals for Team USA, and their backgrounds confirm what kind of team we are with.
And the first to score was Andy Meili, who quickly equalized after a Canadian goal in the first two minutes. Millie, the 33-year-old captain, has 15 career games of NHL experience and most recently played in the Russian NHL. The next goal came from Ben Myers, the 23-year-old who was an honorable mention for the All-Big Ten team last season.
Then, 29-year-old Kenny Agostino was an AHL All-Star who played between one and 36 NHL games for six different teams. The ultimate goal came from Brendan Bryson, the second youngest member of the team at 20 years old and currently in his second year at Michigan.
All in all that’s what Team USA played in these Olympics, and the result was a surprisingly fun game that showed they could still compete for a medal.
Of course, we all know how it worked out the last time the Americans beat Canada at the Olympics. Canada beat them in the gold medal match. It’s very likely that another date with Canada will remain, not to mention Betting on Russia’s favorite (Olympic Committee).
Here’s what else happened in Beijing on Saturday:
Lindsey Jacobless gets another gold medal, while Nick Baumgartner makes Olympic history
The men’s hockey team may be a mixture of young and old, but the mixed figure skating team is a pure veteran champion.
Nick Baumgartner, 40, and Lindsey Jacobless, 36, have competed in nine combined Olympic Games and this experience has clearly helped them to Their way to a gold medal in the first-ever Olympic race for this event. The win made Baumgartner the oldest person to ever receive a medal in a snowboarding event at the Olympics.
The victory comes as part of a catharsis for Jacobless, who won gold in the women’s event on Wednesday. The wait between her first and second Olympic medals: 5,836 days. Waiting between the second and third: 3 days.
Michaela Shiffrin feels ‘strong and tough’ for the regression
Her first few races may not have gone according to plan, but Michaela Shiffrin is consistently hoping to race downhill after the first of three scheduled practice sessions.
Shiffrin hasn’t even trained on the slopes since finishing 38th in the World Cup event on December 4. Associated Press, so there’s more than a little rust to get rid of. She said the coaching track feels more positive about her chances of competing, according to the Associated Press:
“I felt strong and solid. I was in a good shape,” Schaffrin said. “It was never really scary at any point and just had a little bit of that exhilarating feeling.”
Shiffrin also has the combined event to look forward to, winning silver at the 2018 Olympics and gold at the 2021 World Championships.
The men’s curling team suffers a huge loss
Any hope of a repeat of Team USA’s gold medal win in men’s curling would require a first-round exit, that is not certain yet on Saturday.
The team led by John Schuster fell 7-6 to Norway to drop its record to 2-2. It was a close match, with Norway leading only 6-5 after the seventh finish, but the Norwegians left little room for a comeback.
Now, Team USA sits in a five-way match for fourth place in an event where only the top four advance to play in parentheses. The next is one of their biggest matches, a date with Canada 2-2 on Sunday.