Swedes beat American hockey team

Web posted February 13, 1998

By Dennis Sodomka
Morris News Service

NAGANO - Don't start polishing those medals yet, boys.

The U.S. Olympic men's hockey team made up of stars from the professional National Hockey League got a lesson in Olympic-style hockey from the defending gold medalist team from Sweden Friday.

The U.S. team started out strongly and led 2-1 after the first period. But they seemed to tire on the larger Olympic rink and Sweden outskated them the rest of the way, winning 4-2.

"I think we were excited and we were skating all over the place, and on this big ice it is a more patient game,'' said Adam Deadmarsh of the Colorado Avalanche. "Obviously, we need to sit back and take some notes and really concentrate on the job at hand.''

The U.S. won last year's World Cup tournament and along with Canada is considered the favorite in the six-team tournament. Canada beat Belarus 5-0 in its first game. Because of the format of the tournament, one defeat is not fatal. Four of the six teams will meet in the medal round after round-robin play.

"In a tournament like this we have three games to sort this out and see where the chemistry lies,'' said U.S. coach Ron Wilson. "We've got to be poised. You can't be out of control. You don't know the energy level of your team. You hope you can play all three periods like we did the first.''

"We were under pressure in the first period, but when we started to move the puck faster, we played better and better,'' said Sweden's coach Peter Forsberg.

The Americans think things will get better. They play Belarus Saturday and Canada Monday. Canada plays Sweden Saturday.

"You have to take into consideration that this is our first game on this big sheet of ice,'' said Tony Amonte of the Chicago Blackhawks. We have to adjust.

"We're not Europeans and we don't want to play like Europeans. We want to grind in the corners. It's tough on this big sheet of ice. It's tough to even have a collision sometimes there's so much room out there.''