USA defeats Russia!!

USA Counts on Oshie in Sochi!

T.J. Oshie scores shootout goal to lead U.S. to victory
source: nytimes.com

This morning the United States took on Olympic powerhouse and host, Russia. A very competitive matchup, both teams came out hitting and skating hard. As a hockey fan, or just someone watching on, one would think the game was being played in the medal round.  With the United States coming off a 7 goal scoring frenzy against Slovakia on Feb. 13, they were able to gain some much needed momentum in order to take down the favored Russians. Playing in their home country would seem to be advantageous, but the U.S prevailed throughout the entire game. Headed into the third period in a 1-1 tie, the Russian team came out flying, but the U.S. put up a power play goal from Patrick Kane to Joe Pavelski to take a 2-1 lead early in third. Shortly after, the Russians Pavel Datsyuk scored a power play goal to bring his team back to even. Late into the third with only 4 minuted remaining, Russia took a shot form the point that went passed Jonathan Quick, but would be called off due to the net being dislodged before the shot. One might call it a miracle, but the U.S. held steady and finished off the third to take Russia into overtime. Both teams respectively playing amazing hockey, viewers from the United States were surely wide awake catching the action. As overtime would prove to be not enough, the game went into a shootout where both teams would have chances to win the game but were stopped on numerous attempts. With amazing stats on the shootout in the National Hockey League, T.J. Oshie was called upon numerous times to keep the United States in the game. With a Jonathan Quick save on Malkin, T.J. Oshie circled at center ice to begin his 5th shootout attempt. The rest was history as Oshie scored on the eighth round of the shootout and brought another one for the United States. Although Oshie has certainly taken over the world news and social media, the entire United States team played a strong game and deserve credit for the victory. With the 1980's "Miracle on ice" olympic game in mind, the United States men hockey team certainly pulled off another remarkable victory over Russia.

While it was only a preliminary game, the U.S. have certainly proved this morning that they have the determination and commitment to go for gold, and certainly will not go down without a fight. Only one game remains on sunday morning against Slovenia before the playoff rounds begin. In what should be a somewhat easy opponent, if the U.S. get another win they win surely lock in the top spot and earn themselves a buy heading into the next rounds.