Last night at Bright Arena team USA put on a very lackluster performance,
and was lucky to get a narrow win against a tenacious though outgunned
Harvard Crimson. Team USA can use the excuse that they did not dress their
top (?) line of Shawn McEachern, Craig Donatelli, and Joe Sacco, but all
the same I would have expected a much more lopsided game.
 
Seven of the nine goals were in the first period, as Team USA raced out to
a two goal lead, but then sat back and let Harvard catch up and then take a
3-2 advantage. Team USA then caught up and retook the lead on the second
of two carbon copy Bill Guerin power play goals in the period (Ted Drury
feeding the puck down low to Keith Tkachuk, who sent a quick pass across the
goal mouth to Guerin who banged it home).
 
At the start of the second period Team USA replaced Les Kuntar in goal with
newcomer Ray Leblanc. Harvard switched goalies at the half way point. All
goaltending was solid, though not spectacular.  The second period period
was scoreless, with few quality opportunities for either side.
 
Harvard tied the game early in the third period on a wide angle shot from
Matt Malgrave. Team USA got the game winner with a well placed shot from
David Emma, set up by a nice pass from Ted Donato (really about the only good
thing either of them did). Team USA held on, though Harvard had several
excellent scoring chances.
 
 
Team USA       4   0   1  -  5
Harvard        3   0   1  -  4
 
Period 1
  USA  Jim Johannson 5 (Dave Tretowicz) 2:51
  USA  Bill Guerin 7 (Keith Tkachuk, Ted Drury) 5:47
  Harvard  Brian Farrell (Brad Konik, Kevin Sneddon) 6:34
  Harvard  Cory Gustafson (Brian Farrell, Derek Maguire) 12:49
  Harvard  Tim Burke (Steve Flomenhoft, Brian McCormack) 13:17
  USA  Marty McInnis 6 (David Emma, Ted Donato) 16:10
  USA  Bill Guerin 8 (Keith Tkachuk, Ted Drury) 19:04
Period 2
  no scoring
Period 3
  Harvard  Matt Malgrave (Brian McCormack) 1:16
  USA  David Emma 10 (Ted Donato, Marty McInnis) 6:46
 
Saves: USA, Les Kuntar 14, Ray Leblanc 16;
       Harvard, Allain Roy 13, Chuckie Hughes 17.
 
Some comments:
  At even strength, Team USA probably spent maybe 50% more time in the attacking
  zone than Harvard. But the shots on net were basically even, as Team USA
  seemed intent on working the puck down low. When Team USA did shoot
  from outside they rarely (if ever) managed to get it on net. Will a lack of
  offensive punch from the blue line hurt this team (or maybe my perspective
  is warped from watching the Bruins)?
 
  On the other hand as defensive defensemen, the USA blueliners looked pretty
  solid. Team USA's forwards looked a lot like the forwards I see in college
  hockey (in fact they were). But the defensemen combined size and speed in
  a way I don't often see in the college game. (Is there a trend here,
  the defensemen seemed to be from predominantly Western schools, while the
  forwards were predominantly from the East).
 
  Obviously Team USA was not up for this game. Playing a mixed schedule of
  college and pro teams, I guess they get motivated more for the games against
  the big boys. All the same, they have to be quite disappointed with this
  outing. On paper they have the talent to paste Harvard, but they lacked the
  intensity and teamwork to do it. They're going to have to look a *lot* better
  to have any hope for a medal.
 
  Team USA seemed to be experimenting with different line combinations.
  Perhaps partly as a result, their passing didn't seem any crisper than
  Harvard's (the Crimson were playing their first game of the season).
 
  I don't know the numbers on the penalties, but they were about even.
  Team USA committed a couple stupid ones. (It's Steve Flomenhoft's job
  to do that for Harvard, but he showed some restraint last night, only
  getting several penalties of the matching variety).
 
  I thought the best team USA player last night was Keith "gesundheit" Tkachuk.
  I also thought Ted Drury, Dan Keczmer, and Bret Hedican played rather well.
 
  On the homecoming angle, all five former Crimson players dressed for
  team USA. Ted Drury played well, but frankly Scott Fusco, CJ Young,
  Lane MacDonald, and Ted Donato were mostly pretty quiet. I believe this
  is MacDonald's first game back in a while. Apparently he is having
  trouble with recurring migraines, and has been trying new medication.
  He did have one strong penalty killing shift in the third period.
 
A note about Harvard:
  This has to be an encouraging start for the Crimson. Their defense did an
  excellent job of containing USA's speedy forwards, and there were more
  offensive opportunities than I expected (I'd deliberately chosen seats
  behind the goal that Harvard defends for two periods, but that turned out
  not to make a major difference). Harvard's most productive lines were
  Farrell-Burke-Konik and Flomenhoft-Malgrave-Gustafson. Brad Konik and
  Cory Gustafson looked like promising freshmen. I was particularly impressed
  with Konik's hustle.