Jeremy Roenick finished a right-to-left, tic-tac-toe, bingo-bango-bongo passing play with a scorching one-timer through the goaltender’s legs that gave the United States a lead and a sense of relief.
Brett Hull shot a puck between his legs from the side of the net with his back to the goalie and banked it in just inside the far post.
Blackhawks captain Tony Amonte and Roenick, his former teammate in Chicago, produced a classic two-on-one give-and-go that Amonte poked into an open net.
Yes, the United States scored some pretty goals. That’s exactly how you handle a rough-and-tumble opponent.
“Oh, man,” Amonte said of the German players. “They were hacking behind the legs and trying to goad us into some penalties. We knew they’d be chippy and really hold us up. But we just tried to stay levelheaded.”
Running into their chippiest opponent so far–one that cranked John LeClair in the mouth twice, requiring stitches, and one that speared Doug Weight, injuring his wrist–the Americans displayed discipline and blasted Germany 5-0 in front of 8,599 roaring fans Wednesday at the E Center.
The quarterfinal win launches the U.S. into the semifinals Friday, which means a rematch with Russia, a team the Americans tied 2-2 in the seeding round.
That also means a rematch of Hawks teammates Amonte and Phil Housley for the United States against Alex Zhamnov and Boris Mironov of Russia.
Freakiest of all, however, is that the game means a rematch of the countries involved in the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980–Russia was the Soviet Union then, with a dominating group of great forwards. It also lands on the same Feb. 22 date, in the same country, with the same man behind the bench.
Destiny? Again?
“I never thought we were a team of destiny in 1980,” coach Herb Brooks said. “There were some members of the media who held that out there. We were just kicking and scratching and clawing our way to get a kick at the can. There are no similarities whatsoever.”
Truth be told, there was something similar earlier in the day that inspired the U.S. team.
Before the U.S.-Germany game, Belarus, a pool qualifier, upset overwhelming favorite Sweden 4-3 with a late, lucky goal to advance to the semis.
Imagine a miracle on ice for a part of the former Soviet Union.
Sweden had gone 3-0 in the seeding round, Belarus 0-3. The Swedes had won their pool, while Belarus had finished last.
The United States had gone 2-0-1 in the seeding round, Germany 0-3. The Yanks had won their pool; the Germans had finished last.
You bet this got the Americans’ attention.
“We were in a state of shock in our locker room,” Roenick said. “We didn’t want to be the second team to have [an upset] happen to them.”
And they weren’t.
Credit solid shutout goaltending by Mike Richter, who stopped 28 shots, and the patient, opportunistic style the Americans have displayed from the start of this tournament.
Those traits were especially critical to the Americans’ chances because they played their second straight game without power forward Keith Tkachuk, who has a leg contusion, and then lost Weight, who had the flu and was taking IVs in the dressing room in the third period, Brooks said.
And they will be especially critical to the Americans’ chances against the powerful Russians, who value puck control and have an awesome combination of forwards to execute it–Sergei Fedorov, Sergei Samsonov, Igor Larionov and Zhamnov.
“You look at their team on paper,” Amonte said, “and I’m thinking every one of these guys could stickhandle me into the ground. They’re probably the most talented group of forwards I’ve ever seen. They can all play, they can all skate, they can all shoot.”
The Russian forwards can all be shut down too. At least that’s what history tells us.
