USA and Canada out at Olympics, first time since 2006 neither will medal
The U.S. and Canadian men’s ice hockey teams are both leaving the Beijing Olympics without a medal.
It’s the first time since 2006 that no North American team will play for a medal at the Winter Games.
U.S. loses to Slovakia
Slovakia stunned top-seeded Team USA, 3-2, in a shootout and Sweden eliminated Canada, 2-0, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
In the shootout, the Americans went 0-for-5 and Peter Cehlarik scored the lone goal on Slovakia’s fourth attempt.
The U.S. hasn’t won a medal since a silver at Vancouver in 2010 and hasn’t claimed gold since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” squad.
“We needed to do a better job at that,” US captain Andy Miele said. “We could have definitely put our foot down on them but they killed (all three power plays) well and we didn’t capitalize when we needed to.”
Canada ousted by Sweden
Lucas Wallmark scored in the third period and Anton Lander added an empty-netter for Sweden, which got 24 saves from Lars Johansson.
“I don’t know if it’s the biggest goal I’ve ever scored,” said Wallmark. “It’s up there, but hopefully I can score some bigger ones in future.”
Sweden will face the Russian Olympic Committee and Slovakia will meet Finland in the semifinals.
The medals leaders:
Norway: 28 (13 gold, 7 silver, 8 bronze)
Russian Olympic Committee: 24 (4 gold, 8 silver, 12 bronze)
Germany: 20 (10 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze)
United States: 19 (8 gold, 7 silver, 4 bronze)
Canada: 18 (3 gold, 4 silver, 11 bronze)
Austria: 17 (6 gold, 7 silver, 4 bronze)
Italy: 15 (2 gold, 7 silver, 6 bronze)
Sweden: 14 (6 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze)
Netherlands: 14 (6 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze)
Japan: 14 (2 gold, 5 silver, 7 bronze)
–Field Level Media
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