GANGNEUNG, South Korea _ When the U.S. men's hockey team looks back on the 2018 Winter Olympics, the key phrase might be "missed opportunities."
The Americans came up short again on Wednesday, seeing their improbable medal run come to an end with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Pyeonechang, South Korea.
The U.S. failed to convert on several chances in extra time and came up empty in a taut shootout that decided the game.
It was a familiar story for a team that, during pool play, had let its opener against Slovenia slip away and had been shut out by Olympic Athletes From Russia.
On Wednesday, the Americans started quickly as Ryan Donato, their biggest offensive threat in Pyeongchang, scored his fifth goal of the tournament. But they could not hold the lead for long as Czech defenseman Jan Kolar tied things up late in the first period.
The teams continued going back and forth in the second, with Jim Slater scoring for the U.S. and Tomas Kundratek answering for the Czechs.
Twice the Americans failed to take advantage of power plays in a scoreless third period.
"We were really good on penalty killing and everybody worked and battled," Kundratek said.
Once overtime began, the Americans applied pressure but ultimately had no answer for Czech goalie Pavel Francouz. After that, each team had five chances in the shootout.
Petr Koukal beat U.S. goalie Ryan Zapolski on the Czechs' second attempt. It was the only goal that Zapolski would surrender.
But with Donato, Troy Terry and the other American players struggling to finish, it was all the Czechs needed.
"It is such a great feeling," Kundratek said. "Our goalie was unbelievable."
