Innsbruck, Austria – Zach Parise was stopped on a penalty shot with 1:25 left, but the United States clinched a spot in the quarterfinals of the world hockey championships by tying last- place Ukraine 1-1 on Monday.
The Americans trailed 1-0 until defenseman Brett Hauer scored a power-play goal 2:45 into the third period.
The U.S. team couldn’t grab the lead despite holding a 39-9 advantage in shots.
The best chance came in the closing minutes when Ukrainian goalie Kostyantyn Simchuk was called for delay of game when he intentionally knocked the net off its moorings as the United States applied pressure in front.
Because the infraction occurred in the final two minutes, a penalty shot was awarded.
With captain Mike Modano, Doug Weight and Andy Roach – whose shootout goal knocked out the Czech Republic in last year’s quarterfinals – available, the selection of Parise was a surprise.
“I was very nervous,” said Parise, who played this season with Albany (N.Y.) of the American Hockey League. “But we’ve been doing it all year in the American League, we have the shootout thing there. I’ve taken a few. I did the move I did most of the time, and it worked most of the time, but not today.”
Parise, playing just his second game in the worlds, skated toward the right of the net and had his back-hander turned away by Simchuk.
“He played a great game for us and is a goal scorer,” coach Peter Laviolette said of Parise, the son of former NHL player J.P. Parise. “He’s the future of USA hockey.”
In the other Group F game, Finland tied Latvia 0-0.
The Americans will have to wait until today’s play is completed to find out who they will face Thursday in the quarterfinals. The United States and Sweden have six points each, Canada and Finland have five, and Latvia has three. The United States is the only team in the group without a game left.
In Group E, Russia beat Kazakhstan 3-1 to remain the tournament’s only unbeaten team, and Switzerland beat Belarus 2-0.
