Team USA’s disappointing World Cup display came to an end on Thursday night and it finished the exact same way it started...with a loss.
The Americans dropped a 4-3 decision to the Czech Republic in the final game of the preliminary round.
The game was meaningless for both teams, as neither one of them will be advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament.
Team USA was able to keep the game close, but was never able to grab the lead in this game.
On a positive note, they were able to score this great goal:
Big Buff with the heads up play to set up Abdelkader for the tying goal for #TeamUSA! #WCH2016 https://t.co/xzdM3rXPAo
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 23, 2016
Unfortunately for the Americans, the Czech Republic scored two goals in 40 seconds to jump ahead 4-2.
Even if the U.S. would have won this game, their performance in this tournament would have still been considered disappointing, but at least they would have gone out on a more positive note.
Team USA managed to score just five goals in three round robin games.
Ryan McDonagh, who finished the tournament with two goals, led the team in that category, while only three different forwards managed to find the back of the net (Joe Pavelski, T.J. Oshie, Justin Abdelkader).
Patrick Kane, Max Pacioretty, Blake Wheeler, James van Riesmdyk, Derek Stepan and Zach Parise combined to score zero goals and six assists in their three World Cup games.
But hey, at least we got to see Cory Schneider’s pads.
US shouldn't have waited until the 3rd period of a meaningless game to play Schneider. His pads are glorious though! pic.twitter.com/FeDNdPXaat
— Lee Siddall (@leroys311) September 23, 2016
All kidding aside, Team USA was a colossal disappointment on all fronts.
Dean Lombardi’s roster selection was terrible, John Tortorella started getting outcoached before the tournament even began and several of Team USA’s best players underperformed. That’s hardly a recipe for success.
USA Hockey will have to go back to the drawing board if they hope to be relevant again in major international tournaments.
Tortorella: "The bottom line is wee leave here with nothing. Certainly we can’t be happy about that."
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) September 23, 2016
Tortorella says the US played hard. "Just couldn’t score enough."
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) September 23, 2016