U.S. Loses Big on Ice, Diamond : Goodwill Games: Soviets rout Americans in hockey, 10-1; Cuba does same in baseball, 16-2.
It was another dark day for the United States at the Goodwill Games.
The day after the U.S. basketball team lost to Yugoslavia in the gold medal game, the Soviet Union scored four times in the first period and routed the U.S. hockey team, 10-1, at Kennewick, Wash.
In another setback, the Cubans trounced the U.S. baseball team, 16-2.
The American hockey team came into the game with high hopes after upsetting the world champion Soviets in an exhibition game last week. But they never got close, unable to penetrate a strong defense led by goalie Arturs Irbe and appearing helpless against the swift, strong Soviet attackers.
The Soviets are 2-0 and the United States fell to 1-1 in the eight-team round robin tournament. The Soviets will be one of the top two teams in their bracket to advance to the medal round. The Americans also will move on if they beat West Germany (0-2).
Valeri Kamensky picked up a loose puck in front of the net and shot it over the shoulder of goalie Ray LeBlanc 3:42 into the game. At 9:16, Alexander Semak took the puck behind the U.S. net, skated to the front and put it in for a 2-0 Soviet lead.
Only 23 seconds later, Andrei Kovalenko was left alone in front of LeBlanc and he sent home a wrist shot. When Jim Nesich was stopped by Irbe on a breakaway and the Soviets took the rebound right back down the ice for another goal--on Dimitri Khristich’s slap shot--the issue was no longer in doubt.
Joe Sacco of Boston University scored the United States’ goal at 4:40 of the third period.
Pavel Bure and Evgeny Davydov had two goals each for the Soviets, who also got scoring from Viatcheslav Kozlov and Vladimir Malakhov.
This U.S. team beat the Soviets, 3-1, in Oakland in late July. They lost a second exhibition game the next night, and it was after that game that Soviet center Sergei Fedorov defected to the Detroit Red Wings.
The United States had not beaten the Soviet national team in an international tournament game since the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Olympics.
The game was the only sellout in the hockey preliminaries. No other session drew above 4,300, and most have attracted far less to the 6,000-seat arena.
The powerful Cuban baseball team left the United States with only a chance to win a bronze medal.
Omar Linares, the 22-year-old Cuban third baseman considered the best amateur baseball player in the world, had four doubles and one single in five at-bats. He had three runs batted in and scored twice.
The Americans scored twice in the top of the seventh inning on Brent Gates’ run-scoring double and when David McCarty hit into a fielder’s choice.
Cuba plays the winner of Monday night’s Japan-Canada late game for the gold medal today. The U.S. plays the loser of that game for the bronze.
Sergio Reyes of the United States scored the biggest upset yet in boxing, beating reigning bantamweight world champion Enrique Carrion of Cuba on a 3-2 decision.
Reyes, who missed last year’s world championships, overcame persistent holding by Carrion and carried the fight to the Cuban.
Raul Marquez of Houston beat Mujo Bajrovic of Yugoslavia, 5-0, in a welterweight semifinal.
American heavyweights fared worse, as Felix Savon of Cuba decisioned Javier Alvarez of San Antonio, and Bert Teuchert of West Germany beat John Bray of Van Nuys, by 5-0 scores.
Americans won gold medals in the solo and duet competition of synchronized swimming.
Kristen Babb of Clayton, Calif., placed first in the solo with 98.80 points. Mikako Kotani of Japan was second, and Nathalie Guay of Canada took bronze.
In duets, 26-year-old twins Karen and Sarah Josephson of Bristol, Conn., the 1988 Olympic silver medalists, won the gold with a 98.88 score.
In volleyball, Craig Buck, a 1984 and 1988 Olympic gold medalist, helped power the United States past France, 15-12, 15-13, 9-15, 15-8.
Buck had 12 kills and 12 blocks. Teammate Uvaldo Acosta had 27 kills and Marc Jones posted 26.
More to Read
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.