U.S. men's hockey team ties Lativa in opener
By Dave Fischer // USA Hockey // February 15, 2006
TORINO, Italy -- The 2006 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team staged a third-period rally to muster a 3-3 tie against a pesky Latvian team in the opening game of the men’s Olympic ice hockey competition Wednesday night at the Palasport Olympico.
Next up for Team USA is Kazakhstan on Thursday at 3 p.m. EST, at the Palasport Olympico. Kazakhstan lost to Sweden, 7-2, on Wednesday.
Despite outshooting Latvia, 42-25, including 19-6 in the third period, the United States couldn’t come up with the go-ahead goal against former NHL goaltender Arturs Irbe.
Team USA got on the board near the midway point of the first period as Brian Gionta (Rochester, N.Y.) took a pass in the high slot from John-Michael Liles (Zionsville, Ind.) and ripped a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Irbe. Team USA made it 2-0 when Craig Conroy (Potsdam, N.Y) picked up a loose puck near center ice, skated into the zone and wristed a shot that glanced off Irbe and into the net. Latvia cut the lead in half at the 13:15 mark when John Grahame (Denver, Colo.) blocked a shot from Sandis Ozolins but the rebound went right on the stick of Aleksandrs Nizivijs who tapped it home.
Latvia scored two goals in a span of 44 seconds late in the second period to take the lead into the locker room. Atvars Tribuncovs wrist shot slid through a screen and inside the post to tie the score at 2-2. Herberts Vasiljevs picked up a loose puck along the boards near center ice, skated into the U.S. zone and sent a wrist shot over Grahame’s shoulder and into the top corner of the net.
Jordan Leopold (Golden Valley, Minn.) tied the score when his drive from the point deflected off Irbe’s pad and bounced over his head and into the net. The play was set up by Conroy winning the draw back to Brett Hedican (St. Paul, Minn.) who passed it back to Leopold at the point. The United States stormed the Latvian goal down the stretch, putting 19 shots on net, but failed to put anything past Irbe.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring By Period
USA 2-0-1 -- 3
LAT 1-2-0 -- 3
First Period – Scoring: 1, USA, Gionta (Liles, Gomez), 9:44 (pp); 2, USA, Conroy (unassisted), 10:38; 3, LAT, Nizivijs (Ozolins), 13:15. Penalties: USA, Blake (holding), 3:07; LAT, Saviels (interference), 6:06; LAT, Irbe (delay of game), 6:26; LAT, Cipruss (hooking), 8:49; LAT, Rekis (hooking), 11:03; USA, Hedican (interference), 16:15; LAT, Tambijevs (hooking), 16:58.
Second Period – Scoring: 4, LAT, Tribuncovs (Ozolins), 15:04 (pp); 5, LAT, Vasiljevs (unassisted), 15:44. None. Penalties: USA, Hatcher (interference), 1:02; LAT, Tribuncovs (hooking), 5:32; USA, Rolston (hooking), 14:16; USA, Modano (high sticking), 17:27; LAT, Cipruss (tripping), 19:12.
Third Period – Scoring: 6, USA, Leopold (Hedican, Conroy), 2:01. Penalties: USA, Conroy (holding the stick), 5:52; USA, Parrish (high sticking, double minor), 9:36; LAT, Tribuncovs (hooking), 10: 36.
Shots By Period 1 2 3 Total
USA 16 7 19 42
LAT 7 12 6 25
Goaltending (SH-SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Grahame 60:00 7-6 12-10 6-6 25-23
LAT, Irbe 60:00 16-14 7-7 19-18 42-39
Power Play: USA 1-8; LAT 1-8
Penalties: USA 8-16; LAT 8-16
Officials: Referee-Timo Favorin; Linesmen-Thomas Gemeinhardt, Steven Michael Miller
Attendance: 7,851
