Olympic semis lack Canada, U.S. for first time since 2006

BEIJING (AP) — Just because NHL players weren't at the Olympics doesn't mean the United States or Canada had lower expectations.

After rolling through the preliminary round undefeated, the young Americans looked capable of winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980. Even though the Canadians were not nearly as convincing, simply being Canada was enough to think they could go all the way.

"Part of wearing this jersey is winning," Canada goaltender Matt Tompkins said after a 2-0 loss to Sweden in the quarterfinals. “Came here to win a gold medal and anything less than that (is) not what we were hoping for.”

Certainly North American TV executives weren't hoping for this either: the first men's hockey semifinals at the Olympics without the U.S. or Canada since 2006. It's a massive disappointment for each team, especially because the tournament took place on the smaller, NHL-sized ice that's more tailored to a North American style.

Canada was looking to improve on the bronze it won in Pyeongchang four years ago, when NHL players did not participate for the first time since 1998. The U.S. was so dominant early in Beijing that the unexpected end in a quarterfinal loss to Slovakia in a shootout stung harder.

"It’s a tough pill to swallow, it really is, just losing in any fashion," U.S. coach David Quinn said. “We just felt so good about the direction of our team and the way we were playing.”

They're now done playing, leaving three of the same semifinalists from 16 years ago in Sweden, Finland and the Russians. Slovakia is the newcomer, coached by Canada-born Craig Ramsay and set to play for the chance at the first Olympic hockey medal since the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

“We are happy with the