U.S. Beats Russia in World Cup of Hockey
September 8, 2004
Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The United States hit its stride just in time to avoid elimination from the World Cup of Hockey. Facing the same Russian team that dominated them five nights earlier, the Americans got four goals and an assist from Keith Tkachuk in a 5-3 quarterfinal victory Tuesday night.
Mike Modano assisted on all of Tkachuk's goals, and the line of Tkachuk, Modano and Bill Guerin had 11 points.
"We went through a lull last week," Tkachuk said. "We were tired, and when you're tired you cut corners. But these are elimination games."
The United States will play Finland or the Czech Republic _ a 6-1 winner over Sweden on Tuesday night in Stockholm _ in the semifinals Friday night in St. Paul. In the final quarterfinal, Canada will face Slovakia in Toronto on Wednesday night.
With many of the same veterans who played on the 1996 World Cup championship squad, the United States looked slow last week in losses to Canada and Russia.
"They played with some discipline tonight," U.S. coach Ron Wilson said.
For the second straight game, Wilson scratched Brett Hull, Craig Conroy, Brian Rolston and Eric Weinrich. The quicker lineup helped beat Slovakia last week for the United States' lone win in round-robin play, and Wilson didn't want a repeat of his team's lackluster play in its 3-1 loss to Russia.
Last week, the Russians started off fast against the sluggish Americans. On Tuesday, the United States was more aggressive at both ends of the ice.
"We didn't put out best foot forward last week," Wilson said. "But today, we were a little more prepared."
In the rematch, Russia made costly turnovers that the suddenly opportunistic Americans jumped on.
"The biggest mistake we made is we're not playing practical hockey like the U.S. and Canada play," Russia's Oleg Tverdovsky said. "That's why they're beating the European teams."
After Russia tied it at 2 just 36 seconds into the third period, Tkachuk had a chance to score again after Russia's Dmitry Kalinin turned the puck over in the neutral zone. The American's shot deflected off a defender's stick, but Scott Gomez was there to punch a shot past goalie Ilya Bryzgalov at 4:25.
Just 22 seconds later, Guerin made a nice pass from the left circle to a cutting Tkachuk, who scored his fourth goal of the tournament to give the United States a 4-2 lead.
"That's where experience comes into play," Tkachuk said. "If you are a younger team, you get flustered and down on the bench."
Russia pulled to 4-3 with 8:56 to play when Ilya Kovalchuk's slap shot from the left circle beat Robert Esche during a four-minute power play. Russia couldn't convert on the second half of the advantage, created when Brian Leetch cut Dainius Zubrus in the face with a high stick.
The Americans played tight defense the rest of the way and Tkachuk added an empty- netter with 54.7 seconds to play to seal the victory. Canada's Mario Lemieux also scored four goals in a game during the 1987 Canada Cup, the tournament that predated the World Cup.
"I've had four goals at some point in my NHL career, but tonight was special," the 32-year-old Tkachuk said.
Team USA led 2-0 in the second after Tkachuk's second goal, but Dmitry Afanasenkov jolted the Russians back to life when he beat Esche with a low shot at 7:14.
Russia tied it 36 seconds into the third period after a U.S. turnover in the neutral zone. On a three-on-one break, Zubrus dropped a nice pass to Alexei Yashin. Yashin immediately zipped the puck back to Zubrus, who beat Esche to make it 2-all.
"I thought it was a pretty even game," Russia forward Alex Kovalev said. "I thought we had a chance to win this game, and they used our turnovers and they scored on us."