U.S. Men’s Team records first victory in PyeongChang; women look to bounce back

February 16, 2018February 16, 2018 MiHockey Staff

By @MichaelCaples –

The U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team is officially in the win column.

Team USA beat Slovakia 2-1 Thursday night (at least Thursday night Eastern time) to record their first victory of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea.

Harvard’s Ryan Donato scored both of the goals for the Americans, while Ryan Zapolski made 21 saves in the victory.

“We had good energy from all four lines and Zapolski made big saves when he had to,” said head coach Tony Granato, via USAHockey.com. “It was a great atmosphere with the American presence here and we’re thankful for the terrific support. Overall, I liked the way we played. We took a step forward today and we look forward to our game tomorrow night.”

The men now hold a 1-0-1-0 record; they will play the Olympic Athletes from Russia on Saturday (9:10 p.m. local/7:10 a.m. ET) to close preliminary-round play.

Both of Donato’s goals came on U.S. power-play opportunities.

Michigan Watch:

Chad Billins – 16:22 time-on-ice, even plus/minus, one shot on goal

James Wisniewski – 3:49 time-on-ice, even plus/minus, two shots on goal

Jim Slater – Did not dress

Comments:

Highlights:

Highlights from the U.S. Men’s Team’s win over Slovakia. #WinterOlympics

Full recap: https://t.co/yOA9jDmj9e https://t.co/sWzqNsWJE7

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 16, 2018

Women fall to Canada

In the latest edition of their storied rivalry, Team Canada prevailed over Team USA in a preliminary-round contest between the two women’s programs at the 2018 Games.

Kendall Coyne scored the lone goal for Team USA, while Maddie Rooney stopped 21 shots in the contest.

“We played extremely hard and put a lot of pucks to the net,” said head coach Robb Stauber. “We outshot a great team, and at the end of the day we needed to get one more. We believe this team is ready for a breakout.”

The good news is that Team USA (2-0-0-1) had already punched its ticket to the semifinals; they will await the results of the quarterfinals and prepare for a game on Monday.