Michigan State University Athletics
Miller, U.S. Ousted From World Championships
5/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
May 7, 2002
GOTHENBURG, Sweden - Team USA was ousted from the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship today, suffering a 3-1 loss to Finland in a quarterfinal match.
Michigan State goaltender Ryan Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) made 42 saves for the U.S. team, which was outshot 45-35 by the Finns. The two-time All-American and 2001 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner finished the tournament with a 2-1-1 record, a 1.76 goals against average and a .950 saves percentage.
""I knew they had some good shooters on the team," said Miller. "They're world-class competitors."
Miller stopped all 13 shots he faced in a scoreless first period, but the Finns, which outshot Team USA 21-9 in the second period, took a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes of play on goals by Nashville Predator defenseman Kimmo Rintanen and Florida Panther forward Olli Jokinen. The U.S. cut the lead to 2-1 on a tally by Pittsburgh Penguin foward Dan LaCouture midway through the third period, but the Finns got an an insurance marker from Vesa Viitakoski less than two minutes later to regain the two-goal edge.
Among Miller's 42 stops were two saves on Finn penalty shots. The Spartan netminder turned aside a penalty shot at the 7:18 mark of the second period and stopped another penalty shot with 24 seconds left in regulation.
"That second penalty call was questionable," said Miller. "Two penalty shots is like a double breakaway. I really didn't think that second one was a penalty."
BOX SCOREUSA 0-0-1 1Finland 0-2-1 3
First Period - Scoring: None. Penalties: Murphy, USA (charging), 5:58; Aalto, FIN (hooking),
3:03.
Second Period - Scoring: 1. FIN, Rintanen (Kallio), 13:50. 2. FIN, Jokinen (Parssinen), 15:21.
Penalties: Karhalahti, FIN (slashing), 3:09; Murphy, USA (cross-checking), 6:05; USA
penalty resulting in FIN penalty shot, unsuccessful at 7:18.
Third Period - Scoring: 3. USA, LaCouture (Hatcher), 10:03. 4. FIN, Viitakoski (Lind,
Markkanen), 12:00. Penalties: Kapanen, FIN (charging), 16:07; Mowers, USA (tripping),
18:54. USA penalty resulting in FIN penalty shot, unsuccessful at 19:36.
Shots: USA 13-11-11-35. FIN 15-19-11-45.
Goaltenders: USA, Miller (45 shots, 42 saves); FIN, Markkanen (35 shots, 34 saves).
Referee: Vladimir Mihalik. Linesmen: Karol Popovic, Pavel Makarov.
