ST. PAUL – The Cold War has melted, the nationalist fervor of USA-Russia hockey muted. Instead, the Americans will be battling for themselves here tonight, seeking some spark that will renew their hopes to defend their 1996 World Cup crown.
Everyone advances, but Team USA is looking for more than automatic qualification for the knockout round. Another loss tonight after Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat by Canada, and it’ll be bringing up the rear of the North American bracket.
“The teams that finish at the top of each side are probably the teams that will be there at the end,” Brian Leetch said yesterday.
“You don’t want to stumble into the elimination round,” Tony Amonte added.
If true, the Americans need victory over Russia here tonight, and another over Slovakia here tomorrow. But coach Ron Wilson differed.
“No, it’s not considered a must-win. I don’t understand why it’d be considered a must-win,” said Wilson, who says he’s satisfied to see his team improve steadily, as it did after the near-calamitous first period in Montreal.
The Russians will be playing their first game of the tourney, and they’ll have internal motives themselves. Many of their finest players stayed home, from injury, management alienation or lack of suitable insurance coverage as unsigned free agents. Their goalie is expected to be minor-leaguer Ilya Bryzgalov.
“We’re not going to force anyone to play for this team that doesn’t want to,” Alexei Kovalev said. “But there are young guys here who never thought they’d make the team who are really excited and are looking to put on a show.”
“I think we can win this. We have lots of talent,” Alexei Yashin said.
The Americans are guarding against a letdown from the opening game frenzy, and against overconfidence after beating Russia 2-0 in a pre-tourney exhibition.
“If you play these guys 1-on-1, you’re going to lose,” Doug Weight said.
“We have to tighten up defensively,” Steve Konowalchuk said. “They played a very passive 1-4. So we definitely have to simplify our game.”
While Wilson gave public credit to Canada for its first period Tuesday, his players heard an earful about turnovers and not playing straight-ahead hockey. They were particularly guilty of making fancy intercepted drop-passes.
“We took verbal abuse: ‘Don’t make stupid turnovers,’ ” Weight said. “And we saw how it changed when we stopped.”
The Americans will likely be without top center Mike Modano, who left Tuesday’s loss after taking a shot in the leg. Islander sparkplug Jason Blake is expected to take that lineup spot, while Devil defenseman Brian Rafalski is to join the squad from a hip injury.
