Erie native Ryan Zapolski stopped 21-of-22 shots for a United States club that now leads Group B.
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — There was no third-period collapse this time for the United States Olympic men’s hockey team.
Erie native Ryan Zapolski and Harvard University junior Ryan Donato made sure of that. Zapolski, 31, a Cathedral Prep and Mercyhurst University graduate, stopped 21-of-22 shots, including all nine he faced in the game’s final 20 minutes of a 2-1 win against Slovakia late Thursday night at Gangneung Hockey Centre.
Donato scored both goals on the power play, capped by the game-winner 2 minutes, 51 seconds into the third for the U.S. (1-0-0-1), which stand atop Group B by one point over Slovakia and Olympic Athletes of Russia after losing the opener to Slovenia in overtime on Wednesday. The U.S. concludes preliminary round play Saturday against OAR in a 7:10 a.m. Eastern Time game on NBC Sports Network. OAR beat Slovenia 8-2 on Friday.
“Life moves pretty fast right now,” Donato told media after the game. “Coming in I don’t know if I saw myself in that role, but now that I’m here and kind of in that role, it’s building up (college) guys like me, (Denver’s) Troy (Terry) and (Boston University’s) Jordan (Greenway), our confidence, and hopefully it’ll continue to grow and hopefully help the team in a more major, impactful way.”
Zapolski allowed a goal 7:35 into the opening period, which offset a 1-0 lead built on Donato’s first goal 25 seconds earlier. But Zapolski kept Slovakia (1-1-0-0) off the scoreboard the rest of the way. He has stopped 43-of-47 shots through two games.
In women’s hockey action Saturday, Mercyhurst sophomore Emma Nuutinen and Finland (1-2-0-0) face Sweden (2-1-0-0) in a quarterfinal game set to start at 2:40 a.m. ET at Kwangdong Hockey Centre in Gangneung. The winner faces the United States in Monday’s semifinals. Nuutinen has one point, an assist, in three tournament games. Canada, which features former Mercyhurst stars Meghan Agosta and Bailey Bram, also play Monday against Olympic Athletes of Russia or Switzerland. Those teams met in a quarterfinal game Friday at 10:10 p.m. ET.
Agosta has two goals and two assists in three games, while Bram has been held scoreless.