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GAMEDAY: U.S. Men To Face Slovakia

By USA Hockey, 02/15/18, 11:00AM EST

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Puck drop set for 12:10 p.m. local time/10:10 p.m. (Feb. 15) ET; Watch live on CNBC

The 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team plays its second preliminary round game today against Slovakia. Opening faceoff is set for 12:10 p.m. local time (10:10 p.m. ET on Feb. 15) and the game will be broadcast live on CNBC and streamed live at NBCOlympics.com.

Ryan Zapolski has been tabbed as the starter in goal for the second straight game. He made 25 saves on Wednesday (Feb. 14) in his Olympic debut, a 3-2 overtime loss to Slovenia. Zapolski plays for Helsinki-based Jokerit in the KHL and currently leads the league in shutouts with nine.

THE SERIES
The U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team is 1-0-0-1-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) all-time against Slovakia at the Olympics. The teams met in the first preliminary round of the last Games in 2014, with the U.S. earning a 7-1 victory. Phil Kessel had a goal and two assists and 11 different players registered points. 

USA vs. Slovakia Series History
Date                        Round                  Result                  GF-GA
2/13/14                    Preliminary              W                          7-1
2/18/06                    Preliminary              L                           1-2
2/15/94                    Preliminary              T                           3-3
TOTALS                         --                      1-0-0-1-1              13-6
                                                               (W-OTW-OTL-L-T)

U.S.-SLOVAKIA AT DEUTSCHLAND CUP
The U.S. and Slovakia faced off in the Deutschland Cup on Nov. 10, 2017, in Augsburg, Germany, with Slovakia earning a 2-1 victory. While the U.S. outshot Slovakia, 36-16, its only goal came from Bobby Sanguinetti at 13:31 of the third period to close the deficit to what turned out to be the final score of 2-1. Of the 22 players in the lineup tonight vs. Slovakia for Team USA, 10 dressed (Zapolski, Leggio, Gunderson, Sanguinetti, Stoa, Welch, Roe, Gionta, Blum, Billins) in the game vs. Slovakia in the Deutschland Cup. Slovakia's Olympic roster contains 16 members of the team that the U.S. faced in the Deutschland Cup.

TIBDITS
Brian O'Neill and Jordan Greenway scored in their Olympic debut Wednesday (Feb. 14) vs. Slovenia. The last players previously to score in their first Olympic game came in 2010 when both Ryan Malone, Bobby Ryan and David Backes tallied in their first ever Olympic game -- a 3-1 win over Switzerland on Feb. 16 ... Of the 22 players that dressed for Wednesday's (Feb. 14) game vs. Slovenia, all but Brian Gionta were making their Olympic debut. In addition, John McCarthy played his first-ever game for a U.S. national team at any level ... Jordan Greenway is celebrating his 21st birthday here today in South Korea ... Team USA is the home team today and will wear its navy jerseys.

YOUTH HOCKEY SPOTLIGHT
U.S. forward Troy Terry, who hails from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and plays college hockey at the University of Denver, helped propel Team USA to the gold medal in the 2017 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship through his shootout heroics in both the semifinal and gold-medal games. He credits two coaches in his youth hockey days to helping him get to where he is today.

Angelo Ricci was someone who really helped me during my time playing 16U and Dave Fromm was a big influence since I started playing roller hockey when I was five years old right through until I was 18.”

2018 U.S. Men's Olympic Roster

Men's Olympic Homepage

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2018 U.S. Men's Olympic Schedule

Date Opponent Round Result Venue
Wed., Feb. 14 Slovenia Preliminary OTL, 2-3 Kwandong Hockey Centre
Fri., Feb. 16 Slovakia Preliminary W, 2-1 Gangneung Hockey Centre
Sat., Feb. 17 Olympic Athletes From Russia Preliminary L, 0-4 Gangneung Hockey Centre
Tues., Feb. 20 Slovakia Qualification W, 5-1 Gangneung Hockey Centre
Wed., Feb 21 Czech Republic Quarterfinals SOL, 2-3 Gangneung Hockey Centre

2018 Men's Olympic News