Olympic Hockey: US Plays Belarus
VOA Sports
18 Feb 2002 20:34 UTC
The United States men's ice hockey team can clinch the top seed in Group-D when it plays Belarus in its final group match before the quarterfinals begin. Team USA opened tournament play with an impressive 6-0 rout of Finland and battled Russia to a 2-2 tie on Saturday night. American coach Herb Brooks, who coached the U.S. team to its surprise gold medal in 1980, says he is happy getting three out of four possible points against his first two opponents.
The U.S. and Russia each have one win and one tie, and even if both teams win their games Monday, the Americans should win the tiebreaker based on goal differential. There are three other games Monday. Sweden, the only team in the tournament with two wins, can lock up the Group-C crown with a victory over Germany. The Czech Republic plays Canada and Russia takes on Finland.
The women's hockey tournament resumes on Tuesday with the semifinals, as the United States and Canada remain on course for another meeting in the gold medal game.
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