U.S. works hard to beat Switzerland 2-0; semifinals next

VANCOUVER, B.C. — It was more of a struggle than expected, but the United States men's hockey team moved on to the semifinals of the Winter Olympics after a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Switzerland at Canada Hockey Place on Wednesday.

The U.S. will play the winner of tonight's Finland-Czech Republic game on Friday at noon for the right to play for the gold medal Sunday.

The U.S. got its first goal from Zach Parise with 17:52 left in the game on a power play, batting in a loose puck in the right corner of the net just over Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller. The Anaheim Duck, one of three NHL players on the Swiss roster, was under pressure all day but lived up to his billing as one of the best in the world.

The Americans added the clincher on an open-net goal by Parise with 11.2 seconds left after the Swiss pulled Hiller.

Without Hiller, the U.S. — all 23 players on its roster are in the NHL — likely would have won by a larger margin.

"We threw 40 shots on him, and something was going to go in," Paris said.

The United States had a 44-19 edge in shots for the game, using its speed throughout to get to pucks in the neutral zone.

But it was 0-0 through two periods and a nervous time for the United States, which hadn't played since its win over Canada Sunday.

"I was nervous throughout the game," Parise said. "You have a game plan and you stick with it, and that is what we were doing."

The U.S. opened the tournament with a 3-1 win over Switzerland last week and dominated this one similarly most of the day.

The Americans had an 18-4 edge in shots in the first period and 14-4 in the second but couldn't get any past Hiller.

U.S. goalkeeper Ryan Miller said he knew he had to play well.

"I knew I had to against Jonas," Miller said. "We knew it was going to come down to a tight game."

The U.S. thought it had a goal as the second period ended, when Hiller batted a shot by Patrick Kane up in the air, and the puck went into the net. But officials ruled that time had run out in the period before the puck crossed the line to the delight of a pro-Swiss crowd filled with Canadian fans rooting for the underdog and probably still steaming over the United States' win over Canada on Sunday.

After the first score, the crowd thought the Swiss tied the game when a shot by Sandy Jeannin went across the front of the net and hit the far cross bar, then bounced away.

The U.S. appeared to have scored its second goal seconds later but it was ruled no good due to a penalty on Ryan Kesler.

The game remained 1-0 until Hiller was pulled with 1:43 left. The Swiss got a couple looks at the goal, but nothing past Ryan Miller. Parise then got the clincher.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.