HALIFAX — You get a lot of misspellings at an international tournament, but it's not a type that “score” has so often become “scare.”
Three hours after Team Canada survived an alarming surge by little Norway to hold on for a nail-biting 2-1 victory, the United States blew an impressive lead against Germany and required an empty-net goal to finish the game 6-4.
Canada will meet Germany tomorrow.
The Americans went ahead 3-0 less than three minutes into the game on goals by Zach Parise, Patrick O'Sullivan and James Wisniewski.
It seemed the rout was on.
But then, much to the surprise of a thin crowd, the Germans clawed back, with Michael Hackert scoring on a wraparound that bounced in off an American player's shin and Christopher Schmidt scoring on a quick one-timer of a pass from behind the U.S. net.
The Americans got their two-goal lead back when Jason Pominville – Quebec-born, but with dual citizenship – chipped in a rebound on a 5-on-3 power play.
The Germans then came back again after a goalmouth scramble in which Florian Busch scored.
It was Germany's third goal on only nine shots on Craig Anderson, the backup goaltender again pressed into action after a knee injury to starter Tim Thomas in a 5-4 loss to Canada on Tuesday.
When the Germans tied the score 4-4 on their 10th shot – Michael Bakos scoring from the point – U.S head coach John Tortorella decided he had seen enough and pulled Anderson in favour of Robert Esche, who played last winter in Russia.
Esche held his own until Parise got his second goal on a power play and then Dustin Brown put the game away with an empty-netter in the dying moments.
The United States outshot Germany 42-15 and will next play on Sunday against Finland.
