After the first 19 minutes of the United States vs. Germany men’s hockey game at the Winter Olympic Games, Team USA thought they had finally broken through.
The Americans were pressuring and outshooting the Germans throughout the opening period, but they hadn’t found the bounce to get the puck past the German goaltender.
But it seemed like they were finally about to cash in with back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Matthew Tkachuk leading the way at the front of the net.
As the initial shot came in from the blue line, however, Tkachuk got hit in the back and pushed closer to the goalie.
Before Team USA could pounce on the puck again and rifle it into the twine, Tkachuk got hammered with a crosscheck for a second time, which caused the big forward to bump into Germany’s goalie Franzreb.
While the shot pinged off the post and went in behind Franzreb, the referee called off the goal for interference.
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The Americans, especially Tkachuk and Las Vegas Golden Knights leader Jack Eichel, complained that the German team started the fracas in front of the goal. Although replays showed that is what happened, the referees continued play with the game still tied at 0-0
On social media, Team USA fans were heated about the call that went against the team, which would have put them in the lead heading into the first intermission.
Luckily for the Americans, defenseman Zach Werenski would score with less than 10 seconds on the clock to put the team up a goal going into the break.
The USA needs to at least tie Germany in regulation to win their group and advance to the quarterfinals as one of the top seeds. They’ve won their first two games of the Olympics, beating Latvia 5-1 and Denmark 6-3 on Saturday.
This is not the first time the Americans have seen a goal called off in this tournament; two were called back in the opener against Latvia in the first period.
