U.S. Gets Shot of Confidence Against Sweden

Karyn Bye doesn’t think of herself as a goal scorer.

“I don’t necessarily consider myself a player who can stick-handle through three or four people,” said Bye, a right wing on the U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team. “I like to give and go and pass the puck.”

Sue Merz doesn’t think of herself as an offensive-minded defenseman.

“Mostly the way I play is conservative,” she said. “I rarely get goals and I rarely get points.”

The first two games of the tournament suggest both women are modest.

Bye scored two goals Monday and Merz added a goal and two assists to fuel a 7-1 rout of fifth-seeded Sweden before a crowd of 3,607 at Aqua Wing, giving the U.S. a foundation of confidence as it prepares for tougher opponents that lie ahead, starting Wednesday against Finland.

Finland, Canada and the U.S. have 2-0 records but Finland leads the group on goal differential, having scored 17 goals and allowed one. Canada is plus-15 and the U.S. is plus-11.

“I feel we’re playing very well,” said Bye, who had a goal and an assist in the U.S. team’s 5-0 rout of China on Sunday. “We’ve had a couple of lulls, but we’re a team that’s able to pick it up and build momentum.”

Merz, who felt out of sync against China and thought she needed to elevate her play, was an offensive catalyst on Monday. She set up Laurie Baker’s game-tying goal at 16:27 of the first period, passed to Bye for the five-on-three goal that put the U.S. ahead for good at 12:39 of the second period and scored the fourth U.S. goal on a shot from just inside the blue line at 16:20 of the second period.

“I’ve been thinking about getting more involved in the offense,” Merz said. “I feel like sometimes we need that second wave of players, so that when people rush the net, there’s someone to pick up rebounds. I have good enough skills that I can make some plays and carry the puck pretty confidently.”

The U.S. team’s skills proved decisive against a big, physical Swedish team that took a 1-0 lead at 10:02 of the first period when Therese Sjoelander’s power-play slap shot from the right point was deftly deflected by Malin Gustafsson past Sara DeCosta. Bye sandwiched a power-play goal and a short-handed goal around goals by King and Merz during a six-minute span in the second period as the U.S. pulled away. Gretchen Ulion and Shelley Looney added the final flourishes in the third period.

“We had a good first half of the game but we had some black moments in the second period,” Swedish Coach Bengt Ohlson said. “We made too many mistakes. . . .

“Our girls are not conditioned for this tournament. Women’s hockey is very small in Sweden. In hockey, a very good team can score much more in the second half because they are a better team. For us to make a good game, each girl has to bring her maximum.”

Wary of Sweden’s 1-1 tie with top-seeded Canada last week in a pre-Olympic practice game, U.S. Coach Ben Smith had cautioned his team to respect its opponent.

“It took us a while before we could start to solve some of the defensive problems they were throwing at us,” he said. “I was pleased to see the team come on as the game went along.”

The team came alive when Bye, streaking down the left side, took Merz’s pass and beat goalie Annica Ahlen to the stick side. Katie King then shook off a check to swat in a loose puck at 14:26; Merz sent a shot through a forest of legs at 16:20, and Bye dashed past Swedish defenseman Asa Lindstrom for a breakaway and scored on a hard, ice-skimming shot.

Bye, of River Falls, Wis., and Merz, of Greenwich, Conn., have seen women’s hockey progress immeasurably since they joined the U.S. national program. Both are six-time members of the national team and both are determined not to let this chance at an Olympic medal slip through their fingers.

“Some of these other countries have been catching up,” Bye said. “Canada and us, we’re just trying to stay ahead. It isn’t easy.”

Said Merz: “It’s been going well so far, but we’re going to have some real tough games coming up.”