WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY Team USA tops Slovakia for first triumph

The Americans' 3-1 win advanced them into third place in their division.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Team USA finally showed some energy in the World Cup of Hockey, beating Slovakia 3-1 Friday for its first win in the tournament.
Bill Guerin, Jason Blake and Bryan Smolinski scored for the younger, quicker, U.S. team, which moved into third place in the North American Division. Slovakia dropped to fourth at 0-2.
After being outworked against Canada and Russia, U.S. coach Ron Wilson benched NHL star Brett Hull along with three other regulars. The Americans responded with their best offensive output of the tournament, out-shooting Slovakia 39-17.
The U.S. team had 24 shots against Canada and 21 against Russia.
Wilson started goaltender Rick DiPietro to save Robert Esche from playing three games in four nights. Esche stopped 72 shots against Canada and Russia. DiPietro didn't face nearly the same intensity against Slovakia, finishing with 16 saves.
Scratched players
After Thursday night's 3-1 loss to the Russians, a frustrated Wilson said he would shuffle his lineup because the team lacked energy. He scratched Hull, Craig Conroy, Brian Rolston and Eric Weinrich.
His players got the message and played with a spark in the first period that was badly lacking in the first two games.
On the Americans' third shot of the game, Smolinski -- who was scratched from the previous two games -- poked in a rebound past Jan Lasak to give his team a 1-0 lead at 3:09.
Slovakia tied it at 8:46 when Pavol Demitra found Ladislav Nagy on the left side of net, and Nagy beat DiPietro on his glove side.
The Americans regained the lead when Blake scored his first goal of the tournament at 13:27 of the first.
Guerin sealed the win at 16:17 of the third on a breakaway when he backhanded a shot past Lasak. Slovakia had only two shots in the final period.
Czech Republic 7, Germany 2
PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- The Czech Republic scored three goals in three minutes during the second period and routed Germany.
The victory gave the Czechs third place in the European pool behind Sweden and Finland, dropping Germany to fourth. The Czechs will play in the quarterfinals against the group runner-up. Sweden and Finland play for first place in Helsinki today.
Canada leads the North American pool with two victories, two points ahead of Russia, followed by winless Slovakia and the United States.