U.S. Golden Again in In-Line Hockey

It took a guy who calls Saskatchewan home to lead the United States to its second gold medal in as many tries at the In-Line Hockey World Championship.

Light-scoring U.S. defenseman Hardy Sauter scored two goals, including the game-winner with 5 minutes 22 seconds left, and the United States went on to withstand a flurry of Canadian shots for a 5-4 victory Friday at the Pond.

An announced crowd 8,162, pumped up by a rash of late ticket giveaways, watched the Canadians pelt U.S. goaltender Joe Bonvie in the final minute after sending in an extra skater in place of goaltender Scott Humphrey. The final shot, after a spinning move by Canadian captain Steve Wilson at the right of the faceoff circle, glanced off Bonvie’s skate and away from the crease as the horn sounded.

It was the second time in the two years of the tournament that the United States has defeated its North American rival for the gold medal and the fourth time in a row that the United States has defeated the Canadians. Earlier in the tournament, the Americans beat Canada, 9-6.

But unlike that game, or last year’s 13-5 gold medal runaway, defense was the key Friday.

“We tried to be as defensive as we could,” Canada Coach Richard Ropchan said. “We didn’t want to get in a run and gun game with them.”

Humphrey, who stopped 34 shots, set a personal mark by not giving a goal for 57 minutes 32 seconds, spanning three games. He shut out the Swiss Thursday, 8-0.

“We knew this would be a defensive game,” U.S. Coach Roy Sommer said. “We thought it would come down to who made the last mistake and, fortunately, they did.”

U.S. defenseman Joe Cook, who helped his team take a 4-3 lead with 8:26 left in the game with a slap shot at Humphrey that teammate Kurt Mallett tipped in, was named the top defenseman. Canadian winger Hugo Belanger, who is expected to suit up tonight when the Bullfrogs play at St. Louis in a Roller Hockey International game, was named the top forward.

But Sauter, the Central Hockey League defenseman of the year who has not played roller hockey since 1996, made the difference Friday. His unassisted goal in the second quarter gave the United States a 2-1 lead and his game-winner, also unassisted, came on a heads-up play.

The lead see-sawed back and forth until Sauter, who entered the game with only three goals in the tournament, picked up a loose puck at the red line, out-skated Belanger back into the Canadian zone and went top shelf on Humphrey from the left faceoff circle.

“We had been talking about shooting high on their goalie because he was getting down so low in the crease,” said Sauter, who was born in Ohio, but lives with family in Canada when he is not playing ice hockey. “I went in high and shot it hard.”

Bonvie, who has dual citizenship and said he would have played for Canada if he had been asked, was named the tournament’s best goaltender.

In the bronze medal game:

Switzerland 5, Russia 2--The teams combined for the least number of goals in a game in the two-year history of the event. Thomas Kunzi had two goals for Switzerland (4-3-1). Russia (2-5-1) took only 28 shots.

In the seventh-place game:

Germany 8, Austria 4--The Germans (2-5) got goals from six different skaters, including two from Ralf Hartfub. Austria finished 4-2-1.

In the ninth-place game:

Italy 9, Netherlands 6--The Italians (6-2) finished strong, scoring the first four goals of the game.