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No medal for U.S. men’s hockey team

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Finland forward Tuomo Ruutu hits the ice as he challenges USA defenseman Brooks Orpik for the puck during the second period of the men's bronze medal ice hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Finland captured the men’s hockey bronze medal with a 5-0 win against the U.S., which came to the Sochi Olympics seeking gold and went home empty-handed.

The Finns, who now have won a men’s hockey medal in five of the last six Winter Games, got two goals from 43-year-old Teemu Selanne  who was playing in his sixth Olympics.

Selanne became the oldest medal winner in Olympic hockey history, as well as the oldest goal-scorer. He and Finnish teammate Kimmo Timonen won a record-tying fourth medal.

Im so happy that the game was pretty much over in the third, so I could enjoy every second, said Selanne, who plays for the Anaheim Ducks. Twenty-six years ago I played my first national team game, and it’s been a great journey so far, and this is a great ending.

Finnish goalie Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins, who missed his team’s semifinal loss to Sweden with the flu, stopped 27 shots last night for the shutout.

We felt like we had a group who could contend for a gold medal, then we had an opportunity to compete for a bronze medal and, before you know it, we’re going home empty-handed, said U.S. defenseman Cam Fowler, who is Selanne’s teammate on the Ducks. The only feeling I have right now is disappointment.

The U.S., which lost 1-0 to Canada a night earlier, went scoreless for the second straight game after netting a tournament-high 20 goals while reaching the semifinals.

To make matters worse, the U.S. failed to convert on two penalty shots, both by Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks.

We just didnt play well, there’s no way around it, said American captain Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild. In the last two games we didnt play good enough to win and we didnt deserve to win. We had no jam in our play and no speed in our skates.

Canada and Sweden meet Sunday for the gold medal.

 

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