BEIJING — The U.S. men's hockey team held off Germany for a 3-2 victory in a Group A game in the preliminary round of the Olympic men's hockey tournament on Sunday.
With the win, the Americans (3-0) earned the No. 1 seed out of the pool and a bye into the quarterfinals. Team USA will play the winner of Germany vs. Slovakia at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday (CST) in the quarterfinals.
Nathan Smith, a junior center at Minnesota State University-Mankato from Tampa, Fla., scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal (unassisted) at 2:47 of the third period. The goal by Smith, a 23-year-old who was leading NCAA Division I in points (41 in 28 games) before the Olympics, gave the Americans a 3-1 lead.
Forward Tom Kuhnhackl scored with 2:29 left to cut the lead to 3-2, but Germany could not come up with the game-tying goal down the stretch.
Drew Commesso, a Boston University sophomore goalie, made 24 saves to pick up his second win of the tournament for the Americans. The 19-year-old from Norwell, Mass., is the youngest to start in goal for the U.S. Olympic men's team and he made 29 saves in his Olympic debut, an 8-0 win over China.
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Germany took a 1-0 lead in the game on a power-play goal by forward Patrick Hager at 2:00 of the first period.
Team USA tied it up on a power-play goal by Steven Kampfer at 4:26 of the first period. Kampfer is a 33-year-old former University of Michigan defenseman who is playing his first season for the Kazan Ak-Bars in the KHL after playing in the AHL and NHL since 2009.
The assists on his goals also went to two of the veterans on the roster for Team USA: Andy Miele and Brian O'Neill.
Miele, the 33-year-old team captain and former Hobey Baker Award winner at Miami, is playing his second season for the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo in the KHL. O'Neill, a 33-year-old former Yale University defenseman, is playing his sixth season for Jokerit Helsinki in the KHL. This is the second straight Olympics that O'Neill has played in.
The Americans took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Matthew Knies at 4:50 of the second period. Knies is a 19-year-old freshman forward for the University of Minnesota from Phoenix, Arizona.
Forward Nicholas Abruzzese and defenseman Aaron Ness had the assists on the goal for Knies. Abruzzese is a 22-year-old sophomore forward at Harvard University. Ness is a 31-year-old former University of Minnesota and Roseau High School star who is playing this season for the Providence Bruins of the AHL.
Nathan Smith extends the @TeamUSA lead early in the third!
— Olympic Hockey on NBC (@NBCSportsHockey) February 13, 2022
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