The U.S. women’s hockey team are into the semifinals of the Olympic hockey tournament after getting past the Czech Republic 4-1 in the quarterfinals.
The Czech team gave quite a scare to the Americans, with the score tied 1-1 heading into the third period, despite the Americans outshooting the Czech’s 59-6. Goaltender Klara Peslarova was outstanding in net, making 56 saves. It’s the Czech Republic’s first Olympic tournament.
Defender Lee Stecklein scored 6:49 into the third period to break the tie. It was, however, an unfortunate turn of events for Peslarova. Losing her stick, the strap on her mask then came loose. As she tried to signal for a stoppage, play continued and Stecklein took advantage.
.@LeeSteck2 saw her shot and took it.#TeamUSA | #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/6NgOyxDkL4
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 11, 2022
The scoring began in the second period, with Czech forward Michaela Pejzlova scoring on the team’s second shot on net in the game, 4:59 into the second period. The 1-0 lead was short lived, with Hilary Knight scoring 48 seconds later to tie the game. With the goal, she tied Cammi Granato for fourth all-time in women’s Olympic tournament goals for the U.S. (10) and Katie Kang in all-time goals (23).
A five-minute major boarding penalty on forward Dani Cameranesi was successfully killed off in the second period.
Following Stecklein’s goal in the third period, defender Savannah Harmon scored on the power-play to make it 3-1. Kendall Coyne Schofield then added an empty netter to make it 4-1.