GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Ryan Donato officially introduced himself to the world of big-boy hockey a little more than seven minutes into Friday’s game against Slovakia, when he wristed a laser past Jan Laco to open the scoring for the Americans. Then he won the game with another score early in the third period.
But is Donato, a 21-year-old Harvard sniper — who had to lug his books with him in addition to his skates — enough to beat the Russians?
After a 2-1 win against Slovakia on Friday, the United States hockey team faces a rough assignment Saturday when it takes on the team with “Olympic Athlete from Russia” on their sweaters in what, all things considered, has to be the weirdest United States-Russia hockey game in memory.