Conroy and Cole Shine for USA in Losses

Craig Conroy tallied himself another point on a sweet assist to Mike Modano earlier today against Sweden, but Team USA could not gain the point they needed to clinch a berth to the medal round, losing 2-1. Erik Cole made his presence known all over the ice, putting shots on net, chasing down pucks and being a general menace. Despite being nailed a few times, sending him off to the bench slowly, he came back, forcing Sweden to mob him for a good portion of the game. Conroy is currently tied with Scott Gomez as the leading scorers for the tough luck USA team, which continues to generate opportunity after opportunity just can't put the puck in the back of the net.

The top four teams in each group advance to the medal round. Team USA sits in fourth place, and currently has three points in pool play, while Latvia in fifth, has a single point with a game to play. Even with a Latvian victory in their final game, the first tiebreaker is goal differential. Team USA is currently +1, and Latvia is currently -13, so it is likely the American team will advance in what is looking like one of the toughest Olympic tournaments in recent memory. Team USA has Russia on Tuesday at 2:30p on, well, USA.