heinnews’s David Hein continued his coverage of the 2010 ice hockey world championship in Germany. He had a chance to discuss the latest loss by Team USA, which pushes the Americans into the relegation round, where they last played and avoided demotion in 2003.
heinnews: Hello coach Gordon, the team lost for the third time at the worlds with a 3-2 defeat against Finland. What happened out there today?
Gordon: We have been an offensively-challenged team and we fought hard to score. But if the puck doesn’t go in, you can’t help it. We had a lot of shots that were blocked or just didn’t get through.
heinnews: Finland’s second two goals were scored on the break-away. Was that a matter of your team working too hard trying to score?
Gordon: Of course we had to push forward looking for some scoring and that left us a little bit open for their counter attack. It wasn’t easy for us.
heinnews: Now the team heads into the relegation round for the first time since 2003. How disappointing is that?
Gordon: It’s very disappointing. Nobody wants to get into the relegation round. This group of guys has a lot of pride and we just have to make the best of it.
heinnews: How is the state of the team now?
Gordon: We fought to get two games into overtime. And we were right there in both games but we just couldn’t get it done. There’s a fine line between winning and losing. And we just haven’t been able to get on the positive side of that yet. We’ve been very happy with the attitudes and work ethics of these guys. But we are just an offensively-challenged team.