Great stuff

So, I guess the quarterfinal between the United States men’s hockey team and Switzerland was a good game.

Ok, try a great game. I’m not putting it up with the USA/Canada, but this 2-0 victory for the Americans was pretty entertaining.

The Americans peppered Jonas Hiller all game with shot after shot, and Hiller stood tall for all but one shot. The Swiss formula for winning against Team USA — have Hiller play very well and be very opportunistic with the scoring chances that they had — almost worked. Despite being heavily outshot (44-19), Hiller was outstanding and the Swiss had their chances. They just didn’t convert on those chances.

The Swiss played a rope-a-dope style throughout much of the game, which was symbolized early in the third period, when I saw three Swiss players packed right around Hiller. When the Americans were making their big pushes, the Swiss were holding on for dear life.

Rope-a-dope almost worked.

Thanks to a persistant American offense, Zach Parise, and Ryan Miller, the Americans still pulled this one out.

The American offense always kept pushing, despite being shut down by Hiller (and luck — I’ll explain later). Parise scored two goals, including the first goal of the game for either squad early in the third period, as Parise stuffed home a rebound off a shot that originally came off of the stick of Brian Rafalski. Parise also scored an empty netter.

Ryan Miller made the saves when he had to (and got some luck, too — I’ll explain later).

Hiller looked like he was getting help from above during this game. In the dying seconds of the second period, American Ryan Kesler fetched a puck from the left wing corner and threw it on net, as there was no time to set up a play. Hiller struggled with the puck, and ended up juggling it in the air. The puck bounced around in the air and went into the net as time expired in the period. The play was reviewed, and the overhead view found that the puck was right over the goal line as time in the period hit 0:00.

I’ve never seen anything like that. Unbelievably unique play.

Hiller got some help from the referees in the third period. Shortly after Parise put the United States up by one, the American netminder, Miller, was tested. Sandy Jeanin of the Swiss got Miller out of position and had an empty net looming. Jeanin hit the post. The Americans rushed the puck back down the ice, and shortly thereafter, American Ryan Suter wristed one past Hiller from the left wing. But the goal was taken away by a phantom interference call on Kesler, who was battling a defenseman in front of Hiller.

Bizarre sequence.

Per Chris Johnston of The Canadian Press, New York Islanders’ defenseman Mark Streit skated 29:06 for the game (and seemingly the entire third period), and Ryan Suter led Team USA in ice time with 24:05.

For Team USA as a whole, nobody would have expected that four games in, they still will had not lost a game. Heck, they’ve won all of their games in regulation, to boot. They beat Canada. They got the No. 1 seed for the elimination rounds. They got the inside track to the gold medal game by having Russia, Canada, and Sweden on the opposite side of the bracket.

Russia and Canada have both lost games, but not the USA. Anyone bet that before the tournament?

Look, Team USA is made up entirely of talented NHL players, so this was always plausible. Just not probable. At all.

Team USA now awaits the winner of the Czech Republic and Finland.