BEIJING — Minnesota Duluth senior captain Noah Cates and the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team were eliminated from the 2022 Olympics in Beijing on Wednesday via a 3-2 shootout loss to Slovakia in the quarterfinals.
Slovakia tied the game at 2-2 via an extra-attacker goal with 46 seconds left in the third period. Neither team scored during a 10-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period and Slovakia netted the lone goal in a five-round shootout.
Harvard's Nick Abruzzese and St. Cloud State's Sam Hentges scored for Team USA with Hentges scoring off an assist from fellow SCSU teammate Nick Perbix 8:56 into the second period to put the U.S. on top.
Team USA had a chance to build on that 2-1 lead via four power plays following Hentges' goal, but failed to convert on any of the advantages. One carried over from the second into the third period, two more in the third resulted in a two-man advantage of over a minute and a final power play came after Slovakia was called for high sticking with 4:21 to play.
Cates, a third-line winger and alternate captain for the U.S. in Beijing, finished with a goal in four games. He also had two penalty minutes and a plus-2 rating. He was on the ice for Team USA late when Slovakia scored with the extra attacker to finish minus-1 on Wednesday.
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The United States was the top seed going into the quarterfinals after going 3-0 in the preliminary round with wins over China, Canada and Germany. The U.S. was the youngest team in the men's hockey tournament.
