U.S. stays with winning lineup

BY BRIAN MURPHY

Pioneer Press

Three days of speculation and one Brett Hull mini-drama later, Team USA coach Ron Wilson only made one lineup change for Tuesday night's World Cup quarterfinal game.

As expected, goalie Robert Esche returned to the crease against Russia. But Wilson stuck with the crew that produced the United States' lone round-robin victory over Slovakia, which meant a seat in the players' lounge again for forwards Brian Rolston, Craig Conroy and the mercurial Hull.

Defensemen Eric Weinrich and John-Michael Liles also were scratched.

"It's harder telling the guys who played so well the other night that they weren't playing than it is to tell the guys who were out of the lineup they weren't playing," Wilson said. "We've just put the lineup together that we can best do in terms of balance — forechecking, defensive responsibilities and who's on top of their game. It's as simple as that."

After earlier losses to Canada and Russia, the United States scrapped its aggressive forecheck and employed a more disciplined, puck possession game plan to keep pace with the NHL trap that was sprung on them.

Wilson kept intact the energetic line of Chris Drury between Scott Gomez and Jason Blake to help wear down the Russian defense.

Blake scored the winning goal against Slovakia. It hardly was a thing of beauty as Blake and the puck crashed into the net. But it was one more than Hull, the career 741-goal NHL scorer who was scoreless in two games.

"It's such a good opportunity. For us, we can all score. But we want to set a pace," said Blake, of Moorhead, Minn. "Our biggest goal is our work ethic. We're all small guys, so we've got to work together. It's easy when you love to give the puck up."

"Jason's one of those that you say is an easy call," Wilson said. "You can take him out of the lineup because he hasn't played much at this level, and we didn't do that. We didn't make the easy calls. We made the difficult ones, and Jason deserved to play."

Moment of silence: A moment of silence was observed before the game in memory of those killed during the hostage crisis in Russia last week.

Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people rallied in Red Square in Moscow to condemn terrorism after more than 350 people died when militants clashed with Russian soldiers after a 52-hour siege at a school.

The worst terrorist attack on Russian soil was on the minds of the Russian players.

"It gives you shivers before the game when you have a moment of silence, thinking about the people who died. It's very painful," defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. "But we, as hockey players, still have to play the game. What we can do is go and play hockey and try to win and maybe bring some smiles to people's faces in Russia."

Lemaire in town: After weathering his second hurricane in three weeks at his offseason home in Sarasota, Fla., Wild coach Jacques Lemaire returned to Minnesota and watched Tuesday's game in general manager Doug Risebrough's box.

Lemaire reported no serious damage to the homestead. Now, he is in hurry-up-and-wait mode, preparing for the Sept. 17 opening of training camp despite the lockout that is all but certain to begin when the collective bargaining agreement expires on the 15th.

"We will be ready to go... .when we go," he said.