USA Men’s Hockey Team Beat Canada in Preliminary Match

The United States’ interlocking men’s hockey team has some guts: It beat Canada, which has won medals in the last three Olympic Games, in a pre-game 4-2 on Saturday.

Both the Americans and Canadians had hoped to fill their squads with NHL stars, but the league’s decision in December withdraw from the Beijing Games left both countries striving for players elsewhere. The result for the Americans was their youngest team since 1994, but even after Canada scored in just 94 seconds of Saturday’s game, they didn’t seem scared off the big stakes in Beijing.

A little over a minute later, Andy Miele’s puck – the first American shot of the day – beat Canada’s netminder Eddie Pasquale to score a goal that evens the score. The United States took the lead in the late first period when a thicket of American and Canadian players near goal caused enough chaos for Ben Meyers to score.

When Pasquale came back from behind the net, he saw Brendan Brisson beating the puck. The goal horn blew again.

The Canadians, however, tightened the game with a goal from Corban Knight as their captain Eric Staal awaited a call. Staal, 37, celebrated alone in the penalty area at the Games for the first time since 2010.

Seeing Miele tap the puck towards him after a Canadian turnover, Kenny Agostino’s powerful shot lifted America to two goals and Pasquale’s misery even higher with 14 minutes left in the third quarter.

Later in the period, the Canadians failed to score while the two Americans were briefly suspended. Canada pulled Pasquale off the net with about two and a half minutes left.

Claude Julien, a Stanley Cup-winning coach, led the Canadian team for the first time during the Games on Saturday after he had sufficiently recovered from a rib fracture when he slipped on the ice during a team event in Switzerland last month.

The USA, whose team has not won an Olympic medal in men’s hockey since winning silver in 2010, will face China on Sunday night, when they will meet Germany in a different arena in Beijing. The qualifying matches for the men’s tournament are scheduled to begin on Tuesday.