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Olympics men’s hockey: Czech Republic sends USA home with shootout victory

By Jeremy Lambert

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 21: Team Czech Republic celebrates after defeating the United States 3-2 in an overtime shootout during the Men's Play-offs Quarterfinals on day twelve of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Hockey Centre on February 21, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 21: Team Czech Republic celebrates after defeating the United States 3-2 in an overtime shootout during the Men's Play-offs Quarterfinals on day twelve of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Hockey Centre on February 21, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Czech Republic defeated Team USA 3-2 in a shootout in the quarterfinals of the Olympics men’s hockey tournament.

It came down to a shootout for Team USA. And they didn’t have T.J. Oshie. The Czech Republic advanced to the semifinals of the Olympics men’s hockey tournament with a 3-2 victory over USA.

Petr Koukal scored the only shootout goal of the contest, slipping the puck five-hole on a sprawling Ryan Zapolski. Pavel Francouz stopped all five shooters on Team USA, most of whom tried to beat him low on a backhand deke.

Team USA had their chances to put the game to bed prior to the shootout, but missed major opportunities in the third period.

The first came off the stick of Brian O’Neill with about three minutes left in the game. He beat Francouz with a shot off the rush, but the puck rang off the post and harmlessly away.

Vojtech Mozik took a penalty with 1:20 remaining in the game, giving USA a prime chance to end things. Unfortunately, they failed to generate a shot on the power play. Not producing some type of scoring chance during the 40 seconds of 4-on-3 power play time in overtime will go down as the biggest missed opportunity of the tournament for the Americans.

The rest of overtime was a cautious affair, with USA generating the better chances but not putting the puck in the net.

Ryan Donato opened the scoring 6:20 into the game with a quick shot from the top of the circle. It came moments after USA killed off a Jordan Greenway penalty. Jan Kolar tied it with five minutes left in the first, blasting a one timer past Zapolski.

Czech Republic dominated the first half of the second period, outshooting USA 7-1 and getting a goal from Tomas Kundratek. A shorthanded goal by Jim Slater tied it at two and shifted the momentum back in favor of his club.

Zapolski finished the game with 26 saves in regulation and overtime. USA were outshot 28-20 in the game.

Highlights

What’s Next?

Czech Republic advances to the medal round, where they’ll meet the winner of Olympic Athletes from Russia and Norway. That game gets underway at 7:10 a.m. ET on Friday.

Next: Olympics women’s hockey classification game, Sweden vs. Korea highlights, updated bracket and more

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