U.S. hockey beats Germany at Olympics, stays perfect in group play

MILAN — With NHL stars returning to the Winter Olympics for the first time in 12 years, organizers of the Milan-Cortina hockey tournament have seemingly done everything they can to make the players feel at home.

A horn blast marks the goals and the end of each period, an NHL tradition since the 1970s; ominous organ music blares every time a player is banished to the penalty box; and the songs used during breaks lean heavily on American artists such as Dean Martin, Neil Diamond and the Black Eyed Peas.

They even brought in Kings organist Dieter Ruehle to complete the ambiance. So it’s no surprise that the United States and Canada, whose rosters include only NHL players, were the most comfortable in this environment, emerging from the three-game group stage on Sunday as the only undefeated teams in the tournament.

Canada beat France 10-2 thanks to two goals from Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks to move into first place in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, while the United States beat Germany 5-1 to grab the second seed.

The Americans got two goals and an assist from Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, as well as goals from Zach Werenski, Brock Faber and Tage Thompson in their victory. The United States has scored at least five goals in each of its three matches.

“It’s something familiar in an NHL-type environment, but with country pride,” Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “So it’s been great.

“The environment that they’ve created here, I think they’ve done a tremendous job.”

Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson, who was still a student at the 2022 Olympics, played for the United States in front of an empty arena at the COVID-marred tournament in Beijing, where there was no environment. These Games are better, he said.

“The crowd is a little different than the NHL,” he said. “It’s a little noisier, maybe it’s just the European way. But it’s amazing to see the flags. Obviously, a lot of American flags, but flags from all over the world.”

McAvoy and Sanderson are two of 147 NHL players present at the Milan-Cortina Games. All 32 teams sent at least one player and every country participating in the tournament except host Italy has an NHL player on its roster.

Italy, unsurprisingly, lost all three of their first round matches, being outscored 19-4.

NHL players were barred from the 2018 Olympics after the IOC announced it would no longer cover player-related costs such as insurance, travel and lodging, and they missed the 2022 Games after a COVID-19 outbreak scrambled the league’s schedule, forcing it to pull its players from the Olympics six weeks before they were due to leave.

In their absence, countries fielded teams of college or professional players from lower leagues, while many NHL players thought their Olympic dreams would never come true.

The United States men’s hockey team leaves the ice after beating Germany.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

“We missed a few. So I think that was on everyone’s mind,” said Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who is playing in his first Olympics for Canada. “But then they announced we were going to this one. I think everyone was really excited.”

“I dreamed of it growing up, like every other kid,” he continued. “Whenever we played mini-sticks, street hockey or the outdoor rink, we were always playing for the Stanley Cup or Olympic gold. »

Kuemper has already won a Stanley Cup. A title in Milan would complete the package.

“The two greatest honors in hockey,” he said. “Winning the Stanley Cup and winning Olympic gold.”

Canada will likely have to get past the United States to give Kuemper his medal and the United States looked beatable for most of a sloppy first period Sunday, one that saw two defenders clash on a power play, throwing themselves to the ice. Later in the period, forward Jack Hughes fell to the ice untouched.

The Americans finally found their rhythm, moving forward to stay when Werenski, a Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman, received a pass from Matthews in the center of the right circle, stepped up and drilled a wrist shot past German goalie Maximilian Franzreb nine seconds before the first intermission.

Matthews doubled the advantage at 3:25 of the second period, corralling the rebound of a shot from Franzreb’s Quinn Hughes for his second power-play goal of the Olympics. Faber, who plays for the Minnesota Wild, made it 3-0 with less than 2:30 left in the second period, playing the puck out of the boards near the blue line and throwing it to the goal where Eichel put a stick in front of Franzreb, distracting the goalie as he unsuccessfully reached for the puck to glove the puck.

Thompson of the Buffalo Sabers and Matthews closed out the scoring for the United States with goals less than five minutes apart in the final period. Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators finally got Germany on the board with his fourth of the Olympics with less than nine minutes remaining.

The United States now advances to the quarterfinals, which is the Olympic version of the NHL playoffs.

“We’d be fools to think about anything other than the game ahead of us,” McAvoy said when asked if he would face Canada in the final. “We have said from the beginning: “every game, every day”. It’s just about winning a hockey game.

“We managed to achieve our goal, to get two wins, to win the group. That was our goal before this and now we have a little extra rest, which is huge.”