by Garth Meyer
Tied at 2-2 after a 10-minute overtime in the men’s hockey quarterfinals Tuesday night in Beijing, the U.S. sent five players on to the ice for a shootout against Slovakia.
One was Brendan Brisson, a 20-year-old forward from Manhattan Beach – who played from age 5-16 in the L.A. Junior Kings program in El Segundo.
Now he was in the Olympics. The U.S. would have five shots on goal.
No one scored.
Slovakia made one out of their five chances and the 2022 Games were over for the United States.
It was an abrupt end for the only team to go unbeaten in the preliminary round – during which Brisson scored twice in three games.
Against Germany Feb. 13, the Americans won 3-2 to take first place in Group A. Earlier that week, Brisson got a goal in a 4-2 win over Canada, the first time the U.S. has beaten Canada since 2010.
Brisson, on leave from his sophomore season at the University of Michigan, also scored in an 8-0 opening win over China.
The U.S. entered the playoff round as the No. 1 seed, earning a bye into the quarterfinals.
The young team had 15 college players on the 25-man roster. No NHL players have appeared in these Olympics, due to the pandemic.
“We’re going to be buzzing around, and we’re going to be able to play a full 60 minutes and not get tired,” Brisson told the Associated Press before competition started.“We use our legs a lot. I feel like when we have the puck, we’re going to be making good plays. And if we get the puck back right after we lose it, if we’re moving our feet, we’re going to have it the whole game and that’s really important to winning.”
Last Sunday, after three preliminary-round games in four days, the U.S. team had some time off. The Super Bowl began at 7:30 a.m. The players later went to watch big air snowboarding.
After the Olympics, Brisson and most of his U.S. teammates will return to college play. ER
