United States at The 2006 Winter Olympics - Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey

The U.S. men's team, which won a silver medal on home ice in Salt Lake City, had a poor start when they suffered a surprising 3-3 tie against Latvia. They did rebound with a win over Kazakhstan, but further losses to Slovakia, Sweden and Russia meant that the Americans finished fourth in their group, with the lowest point total of any team advancing to the medal round. In their quarterfinal against undefeated Finland, the Americans quickly fell behind 2-0, but managed to tie the game early in the second period. However, the Finns again took a two-goal lead later in the second, and while the Americans managed to score once more, they could not get closer than a 4-3 loss.

The women's team, also defending silver medalists, had a very strong round-robin showing, winning their three games by a combined score of 18-3. This, combined with Canada's domination of the other group, raised much discussion about the competitiveness of women's hockey. In the semifinals, the U.S. team played Sweden, with the favoured Americans taking a 2-0 lead early in the second period. However, the Swedes then rallied, scoring twice to tie the game, and holding off the American attack and forcing a shootout to decide the game. Swedish goaltender Kim Martin stopped four American shooters, while Pernilla Winberg and Maria Rooth scored for Sweden. Prior to this game, the US had never lost to a team other than Canada, and had won each of their previous 25 encounters with Sweden. The American women bounced back from this loss in the bronze medal game, beating Finland 4-0.