U.S. Wears Down Belarus, 8-1

The same refrain comes out every day in the interview area at the E Center. In such an evenly matched hockey tournament, the difference will be the best goaltender.

That wasn’t the case in the first game Monday. Belarussian goalie Andrei Mezin was outstanding against the United States, but all it gave his team was a one-period edge before Belarus caved in to an onslaught by Team USA.

The United States (2-0-1) wrapped up its final-round play with an 8-1 victory, thanks to a 48-13 advantage in shots on goal.

Russia’s loss to Finland later in the day assured the United States the No. 1 seeding from Group D. The U.S. will play Germany in the quarterfinals Wednesday night.

Belarus, which won its pool in the qualifying round, finished 0-3 in the final round.

John LeClair (of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers), Scott Young (St. Louis Blues) and Bill Guerin (Boston Bruins) each scored two goals for the United States. The Kings’ Adam Deadmarsh scored his first goal of the tournament and added an assist as well.

U.S. Coach Herb Brooks stayed with the line of LeClair, Mike Modano and Brett Hull that he formed in the third period of Team USA’s 2-2 tie against Russia on Saturday and it continued to lead the way. With Modano moving the puck around like Jason Kidd on the fastbreak, Hull firing away and LeClair digging in by the crease, the threesome generated 16 shots, all but one by Hull and LeClair.

Modano and Hull played three years together in Dallas before Hull joined the Detroit Red Wings this season.

“There’s a little bit of history there, so we kind of have a good feel for each other,” Modano said. “I know what Brett’s doing, where he’s going. And Johnny, he knows where to go to score his goals. It’s real simple.”

Brooks, as if trying to prove his statement that he had confidence in all three of his goaltenders, started Tom Barrasso after solid outings by Mike Dunham and Mike Richter in the first two games.

Barrasso gave up a goal to Dmitry Pankov 20 seconds into the game.

And with Mezin shutting down the Americans, Hull started thinking the United States could end up on the wrong side of this Olympic hockey moment.

“You go back through the history of hockey, all the great times that an underestimated team with a great goalie has come up with a big win,” Hull said. “We had great chances. He just kept making save after save.”

Mezin came through in situations that were straight from the “Worst-Case Scenarios” section of the goalie manual. How would you like to see Chris Drury bearing down on you after juking a defenseman out of his skates? Or Hull alone with the puck in front of the net with time to make two fakes? What about Doug Weight perched on the doorstep? Mezin stopped them all.

And when Mezin wasn’t good, he was lucky. He chased one puck all the way out to the corner. Brian Rolston beat him to it, but his shot sailed through the crease and off to the other side of the rink.

Hull broke through with a slap shot 46 seconds into the second period.

Hull didn’t even raise his arms to celebrate. He stood with his stick by his waist, with a look on his face that clearly expressed the translation he gave later: “It’s about time.”

Exactly two minutes later, LeClair scored a power-play goal when he knocked a rebound off Mezin and into the net. LeClair scored again 71/2 minutes into the second.

The other lines joined in during the third period.

“They pulled their weight again tonight,” Deadmarsh said of the first line. “A few other guys were able to chip in. We’re going to need that throughout the rest of the tournament.”

Teamwork continued to be the theme for a group that has been together only five days.

“I think everybody’s really sacrificing things for the better of the team,” Modano said. “Everybody’s got great skill and a great feel for the game. It’s the little things that we have to sacrifice just to make us a better team overall defensively. The lines seem to jell a little quicker.

“Every game, we seem to have gotten better and better.”

And, just to prove that you can’t go too long without talking about the goaltenders, forward Jeremy Roenick said: “To give up three goals in three games at this level of competition is pretty spectacular. We’re just getting going.”