Former USNTDP's Jordan Greenway makes history in Team USA hockey loss
GANGNEUNG, South Korea – The faces tell the story, but so do the feet, and that's how it was Wednesday after the U.S. men's hockey team let a 2-0 third-period lead dissolve into a crushing 3-2 overtime loss to Slovenia in the Olympic opener for both teams.
Most of the Americans ripped through Kwandong Hockey Centre's "mixed zone" – where reporters try to grab athletes and coaches for interviews on the way to the locker room – like Olympic speed walkers, their faces joyless and grim.
The Slovenians took their time. This was one to savor. Goaltender Gasper Kroselj took high fives from some Slovenian reporters before giving them quotes. Former Red Wing Jan Mursak, the captain and the hero with the tying goal with 1:37 left as well as the winner in overtime, held court.
"I'm proud of my guys, I'm proud of my team, and hopefully we can start looking to the next game and surprise somebody else," said Mursak, who had stints in Detroit in three seasons before switching to Russia and the KHL in 2013. "I think we outskated them in the third, especially, and had more energy. … It's probably not easy to play against us. Sometimes teams, maybe they underestimate us a little bit."
USA hockey roster loaded with Michiganders
In the middle of this contrast in reactions, understandable on both sides, stood Jordan Greenway. Before it all went bad, before a Slovenia team that was thoroughly outplayed in the first two periods flipped things around in the final 15 minutes of regulation, Greenway was going to be the story.
He still was, of course – becoming the first African-American to play hockey for Team USA in the Olympics is something that transcends any result on the ice. And Greenway, a 20-year-old Boston University star, second-round pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2015 and former member of the U.S. National Team Developmental Program in Ann Arbor, scored what would have been the game-winning goal until Mursak popped a rebound home with 97 seconds left.
"It was exciting, you know?" Greenway said of his Olympic debut. "Something I've always dreamed of doing. But it would have been a lot better to get a win."
More:Team USA hockey must learn quickly — or shocking loss to Slovenia in Olympic opener won't be its last
USA hockey collapse sours Michigan native Chad BIllins' Olympic debut
Greenway was on the ice for that Mursak equalizer as well, arriving to the scrum just as Mursak was taking advantage of a nice bounce and back-handing the puck past Ryan Zapolski. And Greenway was a creator of other opportunities for the Americans on the first line with Brian Gionta and Ryan Stoa.
Stoa found Greenway in front of the net in the first period, and Greenway had a couple cracks but couldn't get the puck past Kroselj. He did cash in off a rebound off a shot from defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti in the second period, then celebrated with appropriate fire. Moments later, he sent a no-look pass to Stoa from behind the net that nearly made it 3-0.
"Great," U.S. coach Tony Granato said of Greenway's night. "He's outstanding. He scored a big goal, he made a ton happen offensively. He was responsible defensively, did what he was supposed to do away from the puck. He played well."
And Greenway hung in with questions flying at him in that mixed zone, after making history, making plays and absorbing the same gut punch everyone in U.S. colors has to endure until Friday's game against Slovakia.
"I thought we played a really good game," Greenway said. "We just didn't find a way to finish it. And I think we've just got to focus on Slovakia, continue to play a simple game and I think everything will work out."