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Team USA ends group play at World Cup of Hockey winless – USA TODAY
TORONTO — Team USA’s 4-3 loss to the Czech Republic in its final World Cup game put a frame around the Americans’ most disappointing tournament performance since the 1998 Olympics, when an unexpected early exit led to players trashing rooms in the Olympic Village.
This U.S. group had no off-ice issues, but the Americans were 0-3 in the tournament and were outscored 11-5 in the losses.
“This is really disappointing for a team that cared so much,” said defenseman Jack Johnson, who has played for a U.S. National Team 11 times.
Before the tournament started, most prognosticators had the Czechs pegged as the worst team in the tournament. But Toronto Maple Leafs player Milan Michalek scored a pair of goals to lead the Czechs to their first win of the tournament.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr scored a goal from the side of the net that seemed to leak through USA goalie Ben Bishop. Another of the Czech Republic’s scores was on an own goal that was knocked into the American net by alternate captain Ryan Suter.
It was that kind of tournament for the Americans, who never seemed to find their confidence.
“I think this (loss) exemplified the way we played in the tournament,” said USA winger Justin Abdelkader. “We just had too many mistakes and they were magnified. Teams took advantage.”
Abdelkader said any criticism directed at coach John Tortorella is misplaced. “It’s on the players,” He said. “…He did a great job of getting us ready. He’s a great motivator. He’s a coach that really is passionate and it comes out each and every time he speaks. It (came) down to players not executing.”
The Americans had a power play in the closing moments against the Czechs and couldn’t convert. They pulled their goalie, but nothing worked for the Americans in this tournament.
“We had a tough time scoring,” Johnson said. We passed up a lot of shots. Guys were trying to make plays. It’s just disappointing that it didn’t happen for us.”
It was like that in 1998 as well. The Americans were considered one of the favorites to win that tournament because they had won the 1996 World Cup. But the Americans went 1-2 in the preliminary round and then lost to the Dominik Hasek-lead Czech team in the quarterfinals.
Nobody was picking the Americans to win this World Cup, but the Americans were expected to reach the semifinals. Instead, they join Finland as the only winless teams in the tournament.
Tortorella said he thought his players played hard against the Czechs.
“I didn’t have to give (this game) a meaning,” Tortorella said. “The players felt that. None of us with the U.S. team is happy with what’s happened here. But I thought our guys rallied together here a little bit, and that’s what we talked about, as far as all the things going around the team and the organization of USA Hockey, let’s just try to play a game for ourselves. We came up short.”
Tortorella cautioned against overreacting to three losses against elite competition..
“I think you’ve got to be really careful not to lose your mind as far as what’s going on with some guys,” Tortorella said. “It’s a different type of tournament. We’ve just got to slow ourselves down and dissect what happened. It certainly isn’t good. But not to the extent (that would warrant) the chatter around.”
Tortorella said USA Hockey needs to “block out the noise and re-assess where we went and see what we can do to get us better.”
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