The current U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team is not the Cinderella that the last American team that captured a gold medal 46 years ago was, but this NHL talent-laden Team USA learned quickly that it would have to work to achieve whatever it gets at the Milan-Cortina Games.
And in their first game of the tournament, they leaned on a player who has gold in his blood to get over the hump against a scrappy Latvian team to capture a 5-1 victory on Thursday.
Brock Nelson, whose uncle Dave Christian was on the 1980 Miracle on Ice gold medal team and whose grandfather Bill played on the 1960 gold medal USA team, scored twice in a second period that the more skilled US wear down Latvia as the Americans scored three goals in the last 8:25 of the period.
“I felt all the emotions come out there. It was super special. I have lots of family here to share it with, too, so it’s just awesome. I’m just trying to take it all in,” Nelson told NBC after his two second-period goals helped the U.S. pull away.
Earlier in the day, Canada cemented it’ status as the favorite of the tournament with a workmanlike 5-0 win over David Pastrnak’s talented Czechia squad.
But after 20 minutes in their game, the Americans could think only of the Latvians in front of them as they were deadlocked in a 1-1 game after the U.S. had two goals taken off the board in the opening 20 minutes.
Brady Tkachuk put the U.S. in front on a shot that went in off the near post behind Elvis Merzlikins.
It looked like the Yanks were getting ready for a runaway win when Quinn Hughes with 6:59. But on the first of two Latvian challenges, it was shown that Nelson was inside the zone before the puck and the goal came off the board because of offside.
Just 26 seconds after the U.S. thought they had a two-goal lead, Latvia tied it up. The Americans could not get a handle on a loose puck in front of goalie Connor Hellebuyck and Renars Kastenbergs knocked it home to tie it up.
At 11:35, the U.S. believed it had regained the lead when Nelson redirected a Brock Faber shot past Merzlikins, with J.T. Miller possible getting a piece of it. Again, Latvia challenged, this time for goalie interference on Miller. The Ranger captain was in the crease and there was some ever so slight contact. And in a strict application of the rule, that goal came off the board, too.
The Latvians nearly grabbed the lead on the next shift when it appeared Bruins’ farmhand Dans Locmelis, who had rocked Auston Matthews earlier in the game on a questionable high hit just before Kastenbergs’ equalizer, had what looked like an open net. But Millis native Matt Boldy slid into the crease to deflect Locmelis’ shot out of harm’s way.
The Yanks hit two posts behind Merzlikins late in the period, but the teams were deadlocked going into the first break.
For a while in the second period, it appeared as though the Latvians were ready to frustrate the Americans as they stacked four across the blue line and forced the US to dump the puck in. But at 11:35, the US regained the lead and it was Nelson, involved in the two disallowed goals, who scored.
Vincent Trocheck played the puck behind the net to Jack Hughes, who made nice pass out front to an open Nelson. Nelson froze Merzlikins with a shot fake and beat him with a backhander.
Then on their second power play, the Yanks finally did get that two-goal lead they thought they had early in the first period. Tage Thompson, who was left off the 4 Nations squad in last February’s terrific tournament, took a feed from North Chelmsford’s Jack Eichel at the side of the net, backed his way into scoring position and roofed a sublime backhander.
Nelson then put the Americans in complete command with 11 seconds left in the period with a razzle-dazzle goal. With time running out in the period, the U.S. had a 2-on-1 but held onto it for a better chance. Eventually Jack Hughes hit the trailer Nelson, who deposited his second goal into the empty net.
“It was a crazy first,” said Nelson. “We thought we were going to get one of the two (disallowed goals). But we just wanted to stick with it. We were getting good looks and those were a couple of great plays by Jack finding me.”
The Latvians were dog-tired at that point, none more so than Merzlikins, who was pulled for Arturs Silovs to start the third period. The U.S. had a 32-11 shot advantage after 20 minutes.
Matthews scored a power-play goal early in the third and the US was on its way. Boston’s Jeremy Swayman, one of the three U.S. goalies on the roster, served as Hellebyuck’s backup.
