Team USA Skates Past Switzerland; Advances To Semifinals

Sports News - February 25th, 2010 - Written By Bryan Cross

In a tightly contested, defensive battle, Team USA was able to get past Switzerland on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals in men's ice hockey, defeating the Swiss 2-0.

Throughout the course of the game, the United States were able to get shots on goal, but Switzerland goalie Jonas Hiller deflected or caught everything near him. It was not until the third period that American forward Zach Parise got one past Hiller on a rebound, to take a 1-0 lead. Parise added another goal on an empty net in the game's final seconds, solidifying Team USA's spot in the next round.

"The goalie was great and we did a good job of sticking with it. We were pretty confident and said just keep putting pucks at him," Parise remarked in a interview following the win.

U.S goalie Ryan Miller continued his solid play, recording his first shut out in the Vancouver Olympics.

For the majority of the game, the U.S team looked flat. They were coming off a big win over Canada to secure the top seed in the elimination rounds. Brian Burke, the general manager for the team, was critical of the play throughout group competition and stressed that they needed improvements to continue advancing.

After defeating Switzerland easily in the opening round of group competition, Team USA got a stiff challenge from the Swiss in the rematch. Parise however, rose to the challenge and provided the answer his team needed.

"I thought after the first two or three games I could play better. I knew I would," remarked Parise. "It's always nice to get rewarded. I just kept wanting to keep shooting."

Parise, along with his teammates, got off 43 shots on goal, of which 42 were stopped by Hiller. Hiller thwarted nearly every scoring attempt by the U.S, but was unable to get assistance from his offense.

"We had high expectations," Hiller said after the loss. "We knew we had a solid team and we can upset some of the big ones and that's what we tried to do. I wish we could have upset them a little more.

"It's always tough to lose, but losing in the quarterfinals in the Olympics and being that close, it definitely hurts. I am quite disappointed right now."

Entering the match up, Team USA was a 3 1/2 goal favorite to defeat Switzerland, according to Olympic Betting Lines. With their 2-0 victory, they failed to cover. Bodog had the over/under for the match up installed at 5 1/2 goals, with the result going the under.

The United States moves onto the semifinals where they will match up with Finland. The game is set for February 26th at 12pm local time. Check back later for the lines on that match up.