GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk were dominating the NHL before Ryan Donato, Troy Terry and Jordan Greenway started playing organized hockey.
"I think I dreamed about playing against those guys one day," Donato, 21, said.
Dream becomes reality today when Donato, Terry, Greenway and their U.S. teammates face Kovalchuk, Datsyuk and the rest of the Russians in a much-anticipated game (7 a.m., NBCSN) that could determine who wins their group and advances directly to the Olympic quarterfinals.
With three players in their early 20s leading the way, the Americans are young and inexperienced but say they aren’t intimidated by the team of Russian athletes that blew out the same Slovenia team the Americans lost to in overtime to start the tournament.