Ice hockey-Versatility key as US chase elusive world gold

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

By Philip O’Connor

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Team USA had to dig deep to beat a well-organised Finnish team in the quarter-finals of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship on Thursday but they eventually cruised to a 5-2 win that took them into the last four and gives them another shot at the gold-medal game. 

With some of their best players traditionally choosing to skip the annual tournament after a long NHL season, the Americans have struggled to achieve the results their talent pool might deserve, but coach Ryan Warsofsky said he was happy with how his group kept finding ways to get the job done. 

“I think we’ve won in a lot of different ways, you know… tonight, we kind of fell behind, we were letting it kind of spiral out of control with some shifts (but) we got it back on the rails a little bit,” he told reporters.

“Our leadership group with (Conor) Garland, (Tage) Thompson, Brady Skjei, (Zach) Werenski, obviously (Clayton) Keller, really helped our young guys, and kind of got them back on the rails, so we’re a confident group.”

The Americans head into Saturday’s semi-finals knowing that they have not won gold at the worlds since 1933, with their last silver medal coming in 1950, and seven bronze medals since is a poor return for a nation of their stature in the game. 

“I think all these guys love their country and to have that logo, that crest, on their chest, you have a lot to play for. That should give you a lot of juice,” Warsofsky said. 

Asked if he had a preference for who his side would meet in the semis, the coach said: “No. Every team this time of year at this tournament is really good, so it’s not going to really matter.” 

The line-up for Saturday’s semi-finals will be decided later on Thursday, with the final on Sunday in Stockholm. 

(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; editing by Clare Fallon)