By Trevor Stynes and Giulio Piovaccari
MILAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) – The Czech Republic were punished by a clinical Swedish team in the quarter-finals of the women’s Olympic ice hockey tournament on Friday, and were left to regret not making the most of their power play chances as they exit the Games.
Sweden scored on their first power play of the game early in the second period, while the Czechs were unable to take advantage when the Swedes were shorthanded twice in the opening period.
The Czechs had another two power plays in the final period with no joy and ultimately ended up conceding the killer second goal of the 2-0 defeat in the dying seconds after pulling their goaltender in an effort to tie the game.
“Sweden got the one power play goal and our power play unfortunately wasn’t able to capitalise today, and sometimes that’s the difference in these moments,” Czech coach Carla MacLeod said.
“But it’s not on our power play. I’m not saying that. I think the reality is there were moments both ways.
“When you’ve got two teams that are playing their hearts out, at the end of the day, one’s heartbroken and the other one’s excited.”
Czech forward Natalie Mlynkova scored three of her side’s seven goals in the group stage, but her side was unable to find the back of the net when it mattered in the quarter-finals.
“You’ve got to find a way to get in front of the goalie’s eyes a little bit better,” Mlynkova said.
“Special teams really hurt us today. We’ve got to get one on a power play. You can’t win a game without scoring a goal in general, and the goalies are too good at this level.
“You just got to be more hungry in front of the net, in the slot, and be willing to go in and battle for the pucks,” Mlynkova added.
There were plenty of tears from the Czech players at the final buzzer, a sign not only of disappointment but of what could have been.
“There’s no bigger sting as an athlete than that missed opportunity,” MacLeod said.
“It’s a long time, it feels like it right now, a long time to the next games. And we were built well enough and we could have had a chance to go at it.”
For Mlynkova and her team mates, this defeat will take a long time to digest.
“There’s just no words for this, it hurts,” Mlynkova said.
“It’s going to hurt for a long time. We were supposed to have this one, and yeah, it sucks.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes and Giulio Piovacarri in Milan; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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