BEIJING (DPA) – The United States surprisingly won the ice hockey prestige duel against Canada in the German Olympic preliminary round group. The American talents defeated the Canadian players 4-2 (2-1, 1-1, 1-0) in Beijing.
One point against Germany is enough for the United States to win the group for Sunday (2:10 pm / ARD & Eurosport) and qualify directly for the quarter-finals. Americans compete with college players in most winter sports due to the coronavirus-related exemption of the NHL Olympics.
The United States had already won Thursday’s opening game 8-0 against the Kunlun Red Stars, who play as a club team as the China national team. Kunlun usually plays in the Russian-influenced Eastern European league KHL in Beijing, but has been in Moscow for some time due to the coronavirus. There are only nine native Chinese in the team. 16 North Americans and one Russian from Canada and the United States were naturalized for Olympia and provided with Chinese names.
Canada registered a surprisingly easy 5-1 win against Germany on Thursday. The 2018 bronze medalist will be in Beijing with an experienced selection of players from top European league and second-tier North American professional league AHL.
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