Finland's Hanna-Riikka Nieminen, right, nearly removes USA's Colleen Coyne's jersey as he pulls her down while an unidentified linesman tries to break them up during the third period of their Olympic women's hockey preliminary round game in Nagano, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 1998. Both were called roughing penalties for the incident. USA defeated Finland 4-2. HANS DERYK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hockey star having a ball

Web posted February 12, 1998

By Dennis Sodomka
Morris News Service

NAGANO -- Sarah Tueting is having fun. When that happens the U.S. women's Olympic hockey team wins games.

She's having fun even when she makes a big mistake in a key game in the Olympic tournament like she did against Finland Wednesday night.

The U.S. team won 4-2 to stay undefeated on its way to a showdown with Canada. But Tueting, the team's most reliable goalie, made a huge mental error that allowed the Finns to tie it at 2.

Asked what happened on the play, Tueting said, "The torque of the puck, combined with the bumps in the board and my grandmother sneezing in Minneapolis caused it. I made a stupid mistake. I was brain-fried.''

The Finns scored a short-handed goal when Tueting was careless in clearing the puck out of the corner and let it slide in front of the net.

"I didn't really come out on the puck,'' she said. "I lost my concentration.''

Instead of letting the mistake get her down, as she might have when she was younger, Tueting just got tougher and more determined to keep a lid on the Finns.

"The only think I can do for my team at that point is stay in the game,'' she said. "I was so mad, but I can't let my teammates see that. They all came over and said, 'Don't worry, we'll get it back'. I decided that no one else is scoring on me.''

Tueting was perfect the rest of the way, making several impossible saves on screened shots and diving to the ice to scoop up loose pucks. She had 20 saves for the night.

Hockey wasn't always so much fun for Tueting. She actually quit the game for six months after her sophomore year at Dartmouth. Then she got a call from Ben Smith, new head coach of the national team, inviting her to come to a tryout camp.

"And I've had fun with this team ever since,'' said Tueting, 21. "Playing with this team you're playing for totally different reasons. The intensity level is a lot different than college hockey.

"It's great to play in a game where you know it's all on the line. I'm really excited about being in goal against Canada. It's fun to play against them. We know we can beat them. I honestly believe that we are the better team.''

Now the tournament all comes down to the game with Canada. Or really two games.

After playing Japan Thursday night the U.S. women only have to beat Canada for the gold medal. It's likely both teams will enter Saturday night's game undefeated. Canada faces Finland Thursday.

Unless there is a major upset in the Thursday games, the North Americans will meet again for the gold medal on Tuesday.

There won't be any surprises. These two teams know each other well after meeting 13 times in the last six months. Canada has won seven times and is the reigning world champion, but the U.S. team has been getting stronger.