Team USA got two goals from University of Michigan forward Gavin Brindley in the second period and coasted to a 4-1 victory today in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Petter Vesterheim scored the only goal for Norway on a shorthanded breakaway at 4:18 of the third period.
The United States, under head coach David Carle, will next play against Switzerland on Thursday (9 a.m. MT) on NHL Network, which is where all Team USA games will be televised.
After a uninspiring start, the U.S. took care of business.
Definitely a slow start against a pesky Norway team, a team USA should beat 10 times out of 10, but Carle’s squad skated better as the game went on, and the outcome was never in doubt. Looking forward to game #2 tomorrow.
Norway was much better than anyone thought, but Carle adjusted his boys very well after the first period. We’re used to DU’s slow starts, so to see Team USA start slow is perhaps a by-product of Carle’s new school, player-centric, business-like approach vs. an old school fire-and-brimstone motivational approach.
The big challenge for DC is likely going to be how his undersized Team USA defense will deal with pounding, heavy-forecheck from teams like Canada, Finland, Slovakia, etc. — which we saw in the second and third period of the pre-tourney tuneup game win over Canada last week, when Canada took over the game in the offensive zone.