SOCHI, Russia – Preliminary? So what.
Don't try to tell these Olympic hockey players to conserve their energy for elimination games. They're simply not playing that way in the Sochi Games.
One day after the United States beat Russia in a thriller with relatively small stakes, Austria beat Norway 3-1 Sunday in a game that featured a glass-shattering check by Austria forward Andreas Nodl on Norway's Jonas Holos.
Nodl checked Holos on the boards near the glass along the side of the penalty box, hitting the glass at an awkward angle to break it. Replays showed glass fragments hit the ice.
The game was delayed several minutes. But because the glass wasn't on the wall of the rink, the teams resumed play while stadium workers quickly replaced the broken pane.
Nodl said afterward that the game was big for his team's confidence and a response to critics.
"You read things in the newspapers about how we don't belong here, and hopefully we have proved a couple wrong," he said. "We take it to heart."
— By Oskar Garcia — Twitter http://twitter.com/oskargarcia
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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu
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