U.S. hockey team overpowers Belarus, 8-1
By Nicholas J. Cotsonika
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah
(KRT) — For a period Monday,
there was drama. Belarus scored 20
seconds into the game, and as
much as Red Wings forward Brett
Hull and the U.S. men’s hockey
team scrambled to respond, they
couldn’t put a puck past a goal
tender named Andrei Mezin.
A. Mezin was amazin’.
But then Hull scored a break
through goal 46 seconds into the
second period, and there was dra
ma no more. Hull assisted on the
next two goals as the Americans
went on to rout Belarus, 8-1, and
win their group. They earned the
right to face the last-place team in
the other group, Germany, in the
quarterfinals Wednesday.
“It’s not a given game,” said U.S.
captain Chris Chelios, a Wings de
fenseman. “But right now, to play
Germany is better than playing the
Czech Republic or Russia or Cana
da or Sweden. Momentum
builder, hopefully. We’ve been
building momentum this whole
tournament here, and hopefully
we can keep going.”
But just after the opening face
off, the Belarussians skated around
the U.S. zone, and the Americans
stood around and watched. Dmit
ry Pankov took the game’s first
shot — and scored, beating Barras
so cleanly.
“Maybe it was a wake-up call,”
Barrasso said. “After that, we real
ized that it wasn’t going to be given
to us, that we had to work hard. ”
Spurred, the Americans blitzed
Belarus. But in their way was
Mezin, who played so well that re
porters raced to read his Olympic
bio. For the record, Mezin is a 27
year-old from Minsk. He is 180 cen
timeters tall. He weighs 77 kilo
grams. He plays for the Berlin
Capitals of the German Elite
League. He “enjoys fishing.”
The Americans took 15 shots in
the first period, several of them dan
gerous. Hull had perhaps the hardest
luck. About five minutes in, Hull
ended up in front with the puck.
Alone. But he was in too close, he
had no net to shoot at, and he fired
the puck right into Mezin’s glove.
“You’d like to stay positive and
think it’s going to come,” Hull said.
Little more than midway through
the first, Hull’s helmet came off.
According to international rules, he
had to put it back on or go to the
bench immediately. He put it back
on. But he didn’t put on his chin
strap. Referee Stephen Walkom
sent Hull off for “illegal equip
ment,” and Hull was not happy.
“I put it on,” Hull said. “No one
said it had to look good.”
Walkom explained to Hull
that he had no choice but to
make the call. First shift of the sec
ond period, Hull took two shots at
the net. First one went wide. Sec
ond one went into Mezin’s body.
What was going on? But then Hull,
whose goal with 4:30 left Saturday
night gave the Americans a 2-2 tie
with Russia, took out his frustration
with a shot from the high slot. No
matter. It went past Mezin. The
game was tied, 1-1.
“It was huge,” U.S. forward Tony
Amonte said.
“Because,” Hull said, “the longer
it goes with them up, 1-0, the
tighter people get. You just need to
get that first one.”
John LeClair, who had a hat trick
Friday night in a 6-0 victory over
Finland, scored twice in the sec
ond. In the third, Bill Guerin and
Scott Young each scored twice,
Adam Deadmarsh once. Hull fin
ished with eight shots, the Ameri
cans 48. Belarus had 13. Afterward,
Hull was hanging out in the hall
when Mezin walked by.
“Great job, guy,” Hull said.
“Nice goal,” Mezin said.
©2002, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by
Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Sports briefs
Cho finishes 14th
at San Diego tournament
Kathy Cho’s 6-over 79 Monday
wasn’t pretty, but it was good
enough to give the senior from Hon
olulu, Hawaii, her best finish as a
Duck. Cho tied for 14th at 159 as the
Oregon women’s golf team finished
17th at the Lady Aztec Invitational,
played at the 6,040-yard, par-73
Lake San Marcos Country Club.
Cho’s previous best finish was a tie
for 19th at the 2000 Hawaii Fall Classic.
Cho’s 79 Monday was one of just 24
sub-80 rounds turned in as bad weather
continued to plague the tournament.
Freshman Jess Carlyon finished 65th at
170, sophomore Lacy Erickson was
tied for 77th at 173 and junior Annie
Davis, making her UO golf debut after
spending the last two-and-a-half years
on the track team, tied for 85th at 176.
First round leader Colorado State
held on to win the team title with a
626. The Rams defeated Washing
ton by two strokes.
—from staff and wire reports
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Beavers
continued from page 5
on Thursday and then a 94-89 decision at Southern
California.
Just like that, first place was out of their hands and
was now being shared by USC, Stanford at Oregon
with 10-4 league records, while the Wildcats stand a
half-game back at 10-5. Below Arizona is California
and UCLA at 9-5.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson knows that two loss
es on the road doesn’t eliminate his team in this wacky
conference race, especially with just one game separat
ing all six teams. The Ducks lost two overtime deci
sions in the Bay Area, fell out of first, and then beat
Oregon State on Saturday to jump right back to the top.
In Olson’s eyes, his Wildcats still have an advan
tage since they close out the regular season at the
McKale Center.
“I think the league champ or co-champs will be in
that position as a result of the last game a week from
Saturday,” Olson said Monday. “When you take a
look at the schedules, we’re fortunate to have three
games at home. This week, USC and UCLA are up in
the Bay Area, and the last weekend Oregon is at USC
and UCLA.
“The teams that are bunched in the top six will be
meeting one another through the next two weeks.”
Arizona may be in Tucson for the rest of the season,
but it won’t necessarily be smooth sailing. The Wild
cats face an always dangerous Arizona State team
Wednesday and then close things out a week later with
Stanford and California.
The Sun Devils are coming off a 69-68 upset at
UCLA and have already beat the Wildcats, 88-72, on
Jan. 24.
“I was impressed when we played them up there,”
Olson said. “They are playing very well. Defensively,
they get after you. They are a very aggressive team.”
Arizona’s two road losses were a rarity for the Wild
cats. Under Olson, it was just the seventh time in 72
Pac-10 road trips that the Wildcats have been swept.
Polls and honor rolls
Five Pac-10 teams showed up in Monday’s Associ
ated Press top-25 poll with the Ducks climbing two
spots to No. 15.
Stanford heads the class at No. 10 while Arizona’s
weekend losses dropped it to No. 14. USC and UCLA
swapped positions from a week ago, as the Trojans
jumped five spots to No. 20 and the Bruins barely made
the poll at the 25th spot.
Also announced Monday was the Pac-10 player of
the week award, which went to USC’s David Bluthen
thal, who averaged 26 points and almost 10 rebounds
during two wins over the Arizona schools.
Bluthenthal was the first Trojan to receive the award
this season, leaving the Ducks as the only team in the
Pac-10 to not yet have a player honored.
ASU ends streak, loses SID
Arizona State accomplished something that Ore
gon hopes to do later this season. The Sun Devils
mm
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Oregon State guard Jimmie Haywood, guarding James Davis, played
his final game in a Beaver uniform in Saturday’s loss at Oregon.
ended a long drought of losses at UCLA with their
69-68 victory Saturday.
The last time Arizona State had won at Pauley Pavil
ion was on Feb. 16, 1987. Similarly, Oregon’s last vic
tory at UCLA came on Feb. 9,1984"
One employee of the Arizona State athletic depart
ment wasn’t around for the conclusion Saturday,
though. ASU sports information director Doug Tam
maro was ejected from the game with seven seconds
left for reportedly offending official Charles Range
while protesting his calls.
Bracketology
Oregon’s seed and its opponent stayed the same, but
the location and the date of its game changed.
In this week’s “Bracketology” on ESPN.com,
where the entire NCAA Tournament field is project
ed, the Ducks remain a fifth-seed and have a first
round match-up with 12th-seeded Mississippi State.
The teams are predicted to meet in Dallas, Texas, on
March 15.
E-mail assistant sports editor Jeff Smith
at jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com.
Kraayeveld
continued from page 5
game and leads the team in
shooting (.514).
The Player of the Week honor is
the first of Kraayeveld’s career and
/
27th all time for the women’s team.
Jamie Craighead was the only Duck
to earn Player of the Week honors
last year.
Kraayeveld heads home to Seat
tle this weekend as the Ducks end
their regular season against Wash
ington on Saturday. Oregon (14-11
overall, 9-7 Pac-10) defeated the
Huskies (16-9, 11-5) at McArthur
Court on Dec. 28.
E-mail sports editor Adam Jude
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.