MVN - Most Valuable Network

USA Gets Robbed in 3-2 Loss Against Finland

Halifax, NS- Sunday afternoon, Team USA and Finland met in what was supposed to be a very exciting game between two of the top teams in the IIHF World Championship. Unfortunately for the two teams, the Russian referees took center stage in this contest and all but ruined a thrilling one-goal affair. Finland came back from being down 2-0 to defeat the Americans 3-2 thanks to some very questionable decisions. In the other game involving a Bruin Sunday, the Czech Republic fell to Sweden 5-3.

The game between the USA and Finland may have been decided by one goal, but the stories of the game will be a Finland non-goal that became a goal despite going through the side of the net, as well as 202 combined penalty minutes. After a quiet and scoreless first period, Team USA got on the board first 1:30 into the second. Phil Kessel fired a shot on net that Niklas Backstrom stopped, but Tom Gilbert was waiting in the slot to bury the rebound. Later in the period, Kessel was at it again, extending the USA lead to two. He ripped home a wrist shot from the left circle that whizzed past Backstrom’s glove hand. The Americans took that 2-0 lead into the third period.

The controversy began early in the third when Team USA was called for back-to-back penalties 29 seconds apart. On the power play, Saku Koivu found Ville Koistinen with a cross-ice pass. Koistinen one-timed the pass into the net for what appeared to be a goal. The goal did stand, but if one was to watch the replay, it seemed to be clear that the puck entered the net through the side. How the video replay official missed this is still a mystery. Midway through the period, Finland got their first real goal of the game. Teemu Selanne redirected a Saku Koivu shot in past a helpless Robert Esche for a 2-2 score. At the 14:09 mark of the third, James Wisniewski was whistled for charging when he barely touched Tuomo Ruutu. Although he was out of the penalty box for one second, there was no chance to him to get back into the play, and the Fins capitalized, as Ruutu set up Mikko Koivu for the go-ahead goal.

As anticipated in this highly intense game, rough stuff ensued, and some players will be spending Monday relaxing in the stands. All game misconducts result in one game suspensions, as well as all fights. Team USA will be without Adam Burish for a butt-end, Matt Greene for leaving the bench, and David Backes for fighting. Finland will be without Olli Jokinen for a hit from behind, Antti-Jussi Niemi for leaving the bench, and Anssi Salmela for fighting. Dustin Brown and Teemu Selanne were lucky not to get misconducts as well.

In goal, Robert Esche was by far the busier goaltender with 42 saves on 45 shots (42 of 44 if you take away the shot through the hole), but suffered the loss. Niklas Backstrom stopped 20 of 22 shots for the win. Phil Kessel scored on his only shot on goal of the game and had an assist to go along with a penalty and a plus-1 performance in 15:13 of ice time. Mark Stuart spent two minutes in the penalty box, and was minus-1 in 13:13. Tim Thomas continues to nurse an apparent lower body injury.

Although most of the attention Sunday was focused on the USA/Finland game, David Krejci’s Czech Republic team had an important game to play with Sweden. The game was very tight through the first 40 minutes of action. The teams played to a scoreless draw after one period, and were tied at two after two. Sweden took a 3-2 lead early in the third period only to have it get answered by the Czech Republic midway through the frame. With 4:53 to go, the Swedes took a 4-3 lead, then put the game away at the end with an empty net goal. Marcus Nilson had two goals for Sweden in the win, while Patrik Elias led the way for the Czechs with a goal and an assist. Henrik Lundqvist defeated Milan Hnilicka in goal. David Krejci was out of the lineup for this game.

Two of the teams with members of the Bruins will take the ice on Monday. First off, Team USA will be looking to bounce back from Sunday’s disappointing loss when the face Norway at 12:30. At 8:15, Germany takes on Latvia in what will essentially be a feel good game for Germany as they have been eliminated from playing in the Quarterfinal Round. The Czech Republic is off until Wednesday when the the Quarterfinal Round begins.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 1:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.