USA favorites outplay Slovakia
Reigning champions from Team USA opened the World championship with a comfortable win over Team Slovakia. However, US players had to dig deep, especially in the first part of the game when Slovakia managed to keep the score close. Kyle Kraemer became the late hero with a hattrick inside four minutes.
| Game no. 8 • aA1 • Sun 19/6/2011 • 20:00 • Schedule and results | ||
|---|---|---|
Slovakia |
3:12 |  USA |
| (1:2, 1:2, 0:3, 1:5) | ||
| Ondrejka (25. Hrusovsky) - Priechodsky, Strapaty, Ruckay J., Galik, Klucar, Cunderlik - Novajovsky, Ertel, Simunek, Ruckay H., Kristin, Novak, Holovic. | Redmann - Yoder, Beilsten, Doran, Osterkamp, Miner - Rodriguez, Chavira, Walser, Gawrys, Sigmund, Kraemer, Cadiz. | |
| Goals and assists: 3. Kristin (Novak), 17. Kristin (Holovic, Novak), 43. Galik (Ruckay) - 1. Walser (Sigmund, Yoder), 8. Sigmund, 16. Yoder (Sigmund, Beilsten), 20. Rodriquez (Cadiz), 33. Walser (Kraemer, Doran), 34. Gawrys (Miner, Beilsten), 34. Sigmund (Yoder, Beilsten), 40. Cadiz (Sigmund), 42. Walser (Doran), 44. Kraemer (Doran), 48. Kraemer (Gawrys, Osterkamp), 48. Kraemer (Gawrys, Rodriquez) | ||
| Shots: 23:38
(7:7, 5:10, 4:13, 7:8).
Penalties: 5:2.
PP goals: 0:4.
SH goals: 0:1. Refferees: Kralj (SLO), Scott (AUS). Audience: 450. |
||
 Live coverage on onlajny.cz | ||
Game report
Whoever missed the opening stages of the game could well regret as both teams got on the scoreboard really early. Firstly, Tyler Walser opened the scoring with a hard shot from the left wing, but early US lead was cancelled shortly afterwards thanks to Miroslav Kristin. US were pushing to the attack and got back the lead after 7 minutes of play thanks to Nathan Sigmund´s shorthanded effort. Slovaks were lucky at times, as two American shots were stopped by a post.
Early in the second quarter, Charles Yoder scored a power play goal to give US a two-goal advantage, but Slovaks came up with an instant reply thanks to Miroslav Kristin´s second goal of the game. However, this was the last time when Slovakia was close to their opponent as Rafael Rodriguez soon after restored a two goal gap. Slovakia then changed their goalkeeper during half time, Roman Hrusovsky replacing Jozef Ondrejka.
A 4-2 score remained valid until 33rd minute and despite being two goals down, Slovaks could be happy with their performance and effort put into the game. In the latter stages of the game, though, their play fell apart. Shawn Gawrys converted a power play at 33:17 and just 17 seconds later, Nathan Sigmund made it 6-2. “Next time we have to stick to our planned tactics,” claimed the disappointed Martin Galik. “An opponent of US quality punishes every mistake and we have to be more disciplined.”
Quick breakaway was then converted into a seventh US goal by Junior Cadiz, followed by a successful shot of Tyler Walser. Slovakia clawed one goal back late thanks to a lucky close range shot of Martin Galik, puck going in off his skate. But Slovaks were not spared further goals, as Kyle Kraemer stole the show in the last minutes and scored an incredible four-minute hattrick! “We started slowly and Slovaks were closing us down pretty well, but we started to do back-checking and gradually became the better team,” said Kraemer.
Author: Lukas Peroutka
Game reactions
Imrich Antal (Team Slovakia coach):
We did not play as we planned before the game. Our opponent had something like six power plays and scored five goals. It is very difficult to play shorthanded against an opponent of US quality. I am a bit disappointed, because our key players did not perform to the standard today. We will have to sort it out before tomorrow.
Robert Chornomud (Team USA coach):
It was an open game from the beginning. I hope we will continue with a performance like this. Every opponent is different and we have to adapt a bit. We will also have to get better used to the floor in the arena to feel more comfortable.
