So, it's been a little while since I last blogged and I think it's only fair that we touch upon the first week on the World Cup of Hockey and how Team USA is doing. If anyone isn't already aware, it's not looking very good for them. No, Team USA wasn't the prospected winner of the tournament but they weren't expected to be knocked out of the round robin without winning a single game! Three games up and three games down for the Americans. I've never seen them go down so easy! Here's a little recap of each robin robin game: Game 1: Team USA (0) vs. Team Europe (3) Looking at the stats it's easy to say that Jonathan Quick didn't have his best night between the posts this night. With Team USA outshooting Team Europe 35 to 17, Quick made just 14 saves on the night. Team USA DOUBLED their shots on net but could find the back of the net the entire night. By simply looking at the box score the two teams were fairly matched up, and where they weren't even, Team USA came out on top in each category other than the most important, goals. Game 2: Team USA (2) vs. Team Canada (4) As one of the biggest rivals in hockey, at least Team USA made it onto the board for this one. But again, statistics wise, Team USA pulls slightly ahead of Team Canada, although it is a much closer matchup compared to game two against Team Europe. The Americans pulled away with 62% of the face-off wins and had an additional two shots on net compared to their rivals but still weren't able to put the few extra into the net. Quick stood between the pipes for this matchup as well with another save percentage in the eighties compared to Carrie Price's 94%. Bruins center David Backes went -1 on the night but held a 70% face-off percentage while on the other side of the ice Bergeron helped seal the win for the Canadians bringing them to their 4-2 victory. Game 3: Team USA (3) vs. Team Czech Republic (4) With a 4-3 loss to the Czech Republic, Team USA got a little closer but just not close enough. For their third game in a row they outshot their opponent but were unable to get it across the goal line. This time, Bishop and Schneider each took time serving as the goal keep for the Americans although Bishop failed to save each of the four goals. In this level of play I think Team USA showed that the minor mistakes can be game changers. Although, according to the stats, they didn't have an awful run, they allowed teams to capitalize on prime opportunities and failed to capitalize on opportunities that were given to them.
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