GANGNEUNG, South Korea—A back-and-forth battle with the unbeaten Czechs ended in the heartbreak of a shootout for the U.S. men’s hockey team.
The 3-2 loss in the quarterfinals finishes the hockey team’s run at the Pyeongchang Olympics. It denies the U.S. another medal opportunity as Team USA continues on a downward trajectory that would give America its smallest medal haul at a Winter Games in at least two decades.
With the teams locked in a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation, the game went to a shootout after a scoreless 10-minute overtime period. In the second round of the shootout, the Czech Republic’s Petr Koukal beat U.S. goal Ryan Zapolski for the decisive score.
The U.S. failed to hit the back of the net even once in its five attempts, sending the Czech fans into a frenzy and leaving the U.S. disconsolate.
“It’s tough to swallow,” said Brian Gionta, a 39-year-old National Hockey League veteran who was Team USA’s captain in Pyeongchang.
The shootout loss for the U.S. served as a stark reminder of the roster that they could have fielded at these Games if not for an NHL decision to block its players from participating.
Four years ago in Sochi, the Americans won a thriller against Russia, riding on the heroics of T.J. Oshie, then a member of the St. Louis Blues. Oshie, now a Washington Capital, converted on four of his six attempts in the shootout against the Olympic hosts, as President Vladimir Putin watched from a skybox.
But this time, deprived of the skills of American NHL stars like Oshie, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane, the U.S. team was instead forced to rely on veterans from second-tier leagues and a handful of college stars.
The team struggled to gain traction from the start, falling in its opener to Slovenia and getting blown out by the Olympic Athletes from Russia 4-0.
Unlike the Czech squad, which brought more international experience and had beaten Canada in a shootout in the preliminary round, the U.S. roster was only announced a month before the Opening Ceremony, giving the team little time to gel as a team.
“I don’t know how much it hurt us that we haven’t played that much together,” said Brian O’Neill, who played a handful of games for the New Jersey Devils before decamping for the Kontinental Hockey League two years ago.
The U.S. women’s hockey team, meanwhile, faces off against Team Canada in the gold medal game on Thursday.
One of the men’s team’s college stars, Harvard’s Ryan Donato struck first with a goal six minutes into the first, but the lead lasted just nine minutes, when Jan Kolar answered for the Czechs.
In the second period, the Czechs started with a dominant possession, peppering Zapolski with a flurry of shots before a slap shot from the point blew past him. The Americans answered that quickly with a short-handed goal from Jim Slater on a fast break reversal.
“I thought we were good enough to win a medal, but I guess not,” said Slater, a 35-year-old who spent 10 seasons with the Atlanta Thrashers and Winnipeg Jets before moving to Switzerland. “Being 35 and being overseas for three years, it’s the pinnacle of my career to play in the Olympics.”
Tony Granato, the U.S. men’s hockey coach, was disappointed by the outcome, but philosophical about the way things played out.
“Did we like that it went to a shootout to determine if we moved on? No, but those are the rules,” he said.
Granato also refused to be drawn on whether the outcome would have been different if the NHL players had been allowed to participate.
“No. No. We had 25 players here,” Granato said. “They played hard. They competed. They represented the country well.”
—Andrew Jeong contributed to this article.
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Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com and Jim Chairusmi at jim.chairusmi@wsj.com
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