U.S. hockey passes blame better than puck

Finger pointing abounds after Americans suffer 4-3 defeat to Finland

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TURIN, Italy - Mike Modano took no shots in the loss that bounced the U.S. men’s hockey team from the Olympics.

He saved his best one for afterward.

The three-time Olympian was benched for most of the third period in the Americans’ 4-3 loss Wednesday night to Finland in the quarterfinals. Then he took aim at the people who put the disappointing squad together.

“You’d think USA Hockey would be a well-oiled machine, but it’s not,” he said. “Basically we were on our own for hotels, tickets, flights, stuff like that.

“Normally we wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that.”

The Americans came out flat in the opening period Wednesday, allowing Sami Salo’s short-handed goal that gave Finland a 2-0 lead. Modano scored two goals in the tournament, yet was a non-factor in the finale, when he didn’t so much as put a puck on the net.

“It’s very disappointing, because the people at USA Hockey do a tremendous job,” general manager Don Waddell said of Modano’s comments. “There is a lot of pressure on people. The top people at USA Hockey are volunteers.”

U.S. coach Peter Laviolette didn’t think enough of Modano’s performance to have him on the ice during crunch time.

He certainly was less pleased with the forward’s Olympic exit interview.

“We were down looking for goals and looking for offense, and it wasn’t about Mike Modano,” he said. “The third period was clearly our best period. ... I think some players in general didn’t seem to have the jump, and you do your best to get the players out there that have the jump.”

Waddell choked back tears as he tried to explain why the team he built was bounced out of the games with just one win and no medals.

“We came here with higher expectations, and it’s disappointing. But you have to move on,” the Atlanta Thrashers general manager said.

But difficult travel plans and just two days from the time the NHL broke for the Olympics until the first game were hardly the reasons Laviolette was forced to call timeout before 11 minutes elapsed against Finland. His club was behind 1-0 and in danger of being swept off the ice by an undefeated team.

“I don’t know if we were nervous, but we came out flat,” said New Jersey forward Brian Gionta, who scored a team-high four goals.

That made this the latest Olympic disappointment for the U.S. The women’s hockey team seemed a lock for at least a silver medal, but had to settle for bronze after falling to Sweden in the semis.

The men didn’t even get that far.

“We’re out of the tournament, but it’s not like we have to blow it up and start over,” Waddell said.

Olli Jokinen scored two power-play goals in the second period for Finland, which recovered after blowing an early two-goal lead. The Finns will play in the semifinals on Friday against Russia, while the Americans (1-4-1) will try to figure out why they managed only one win after capturing the silver medal four years ago in Salt Lake City.

“We never seemed to get it on track throughout the tournament,” Laviolette said. “From the start tonight, I thought we were standing instead of skating.”

It didn’t help that goalie Rick DiPietro wasn’t at the top of his game. After making three consecutive starts in the preliminary round, he had two days off before facing Finland.

He said he didn’t lose his edge, but he also didn’t reclaim the form he showed earlier when he allowed only five goals in three games. That was only good enough to earn the Americans one win and a fourth-place finish in their pool.

All four U.S. losses were by one goal.

“When you lose and don’t get a chance to play for a medal, it’s the most disappointing thing that could happen in hockey right now for me,” the New York Islanders goalie said.

The Americans pulled DiPietro in the last 90 seconds, and Finnish goalie Antero Niittymaki made 15 of his 25 saves in the third period to hold off the United States’ final push.

Gionta closed the gap to 4-3 with 4:27 left. But Finland (6-0), which came in with a 19-2 scoring edge, closed down on defense in the final period and recorded only three shots.

Ville Peltonen gave Finland its first lead when he rolled a puck between DiPietro’s pads, and Salo made it 2-0.

The Americans rallied, however, on goals by Mike Knuble and Mathieu Schneider. But Jokinen netted his first goal at 5:06 of the second period and then made it 4-2 with 2:50 remaining in the frame.

United States penalties throughout the third period — including a 4-minute, high-sticking call against Derian Hatcher, who knocked out two of Teemu Selanne’s teeth and bloodied his mouth — cut off any chance of a comeback. That left Waddell hunched over in his seat and staring at the floor.

Laviolette tried to shake life into his team early by calling his timeout. He yelled curses as he face turned red, and finished the tirade with an emphatic, “Let’s Go!”

And go they did, right out of the tournament.

“I felt like it was not going anywhere,” Laviolette said. “They were clearly on top of their game, and we were clearly sitting back on our heels. We needed to get going before this got too far out of hand.”

The United States, 6-3-2 against Finland in the Olympics, got within 2-1 when Knuble deflected in Schneider’s drive at 13:14 of the first. The Americans tied it when Schneider scored just 1:29 into the second period.

Finland, which eliminated the United States during the semifinals of the World Cup of Hockey in 2004, then got the deciding offense from Jokinen. It was the Finns’ first victory in these Olympics decided by fewer than two goals.

“We know we can beat anybody when we play on our level, and we didn’t even didn’t have to play that well tonight,” Selanne said.

Associated Press