China battles with Canada, USA heads Group A

Team USA topped Group A at the Winter Olympics thanks to a 3-2 win over Germany, while Canada beat China 5-0 — and faces the Dragons again in the qualification round.

China gets plaudits but no points again

China 0 Canada 5 (0-3, 0-1, 0-1)

Canada scored three goals in 10 minutes to take control of this game — but China battled bravely again and might have made a contest of this with better finishing. After recovering from that torrid start — which saw Dynamo Moscow’s Eric O’Dell grab a goal and an assist — the Chinese posed some questions for Canada, repeatedly hitting the piping in the middle stanza.

And that brought encouraging words from Claude Julien, the Canadian head coach, as he got his first look at Chinese hockey. “We played a team that seems to be getting better all the time,” he said. “We played a team that doesn’t quit, competes hard and had their chances.”

It was a big day for China’s goalie, Ouban Yongli (Paris O’Brien). The 21-year-old made his international debut against the Canadians, a special moment for a native of British Columbia. 

“Honestly, it was a surreal moment,” he said. “Once in a lifetime for sure. My five-year-old self wouldn’t believe where I am today.”

However, that ‘once in a lifetime’ experience could be repeated as early as Tuesday when the teams meet again in knock-out play. Ouban insists China is ready for another battle.

“They’re a hell of a team, very well coached, a good group of guys, and it’s going to be a tough game again but we’re up for the challenge.”

The challenge today was sunk by the middle of the first period, with goals from Ben Street, Adam Tambellini and O’Dell putting Canada in charge. But China kept battling and had some big moments in the second period. Shuai Fu (Parker Foo) was twice denied by the post, Zheng Enlai (Ty Schultz) and An Jian (Cory Kane) both had big chances and another point shot glanced off the outside of the goal frame as the Dragons made it hot around the Canadian net.

“I think we showed we can compete, but we need to bury a couple of our chances there and figure out a way not to get down so early because that’s such a hard team to come back against,” said team captain Ye Jinguang. “I think we hit two posts there on the power play and were buzzing around there, so that will give us some confidence going forward, and hopefully we’re saving the goals for the next game.”

At the other end, clinical Canada showed how it should be done. Kent Johnson struck late in the second period and Avangard’s Corban Knight added a fifth in the closing minutes. But, not for the first time in Beijing, China went a long way to winning the respect it craves, if not the points it needs.

Kampfer strikes as U. S. takes top spot

Team USA 3 Team Germany 2 (1-1, 1-0, 1-1)

The Americans recovered from an early scare to edge past Germany and top Group A with three wins from three. As a result, Team USA gets a by to the quarter finals, alongside Sweden, Finland and team ROC. Germany will play Slovakia in Tuesday’s qualification round.

The Germans had a theoretical chance of topping the group themselves if they could win this game, and Patrick Hager’s power play goal on two minutes gave the 2018 silver medallist a perfect start. However, USA responded quickly through Ak Bars defenseman Steven Kampfer, also on the power play, and the teams were deadlocked at the first intermission.

Early in the second period, Matt Knies put the Americans in front. The Maple Leafs prospect grabbed his first goal of the Games and set his team on the road to top spot in the group. Nathan Smith added a third early in the final stanza, but there was time for Germany to set up an anxious finish when Tom Kuhnhackl struck with two-and-a-half minutes to play. The final storm threatened to take the game to overtime, but the Americans held on.

Kampfer is enjoying his role as a senior figure on a youthful U. S. line-up and is looking forward to the knock-out stage.

“It just shows everybody that we can play a full 60 minutes,” he said of Sunday’s win. “It’s going to take every bit of every second to come out and win games, especially now that we get to the knockout rounds here.

“I think the confidence level is good. Everybody feels pretty good about their game. But there’s room for improvement for all of us. When it comes down to it, the coaches do a great job of letting us know what we can do better, what we’ve done well and continuously going forward.”