Zach Parise scored two goals in the third period as the United States became the first team to reach the semi-finals of the men's Olympic ice hockey tournament on Wednesday with a 2-0 victory over Switzerland, dpa reported.
In the first day's quarter-final, Parise scored a power play goal two minutes into the final period and hit home an empty-net score with 11.2 seconds remaining to secure the Americans a spot in Friday's final four.
Team USA, who won Olympic gold in 1960 and 1984, reached the Olympics semi-finals for just the third time since their 1984 title. The Americans will next take on the winners of the Czech Republic-Finland quarter-final later Wednesday.
Wednesday's other final eight showdowns have Canada facing Russia in the day's biggest grudge match and defending Olympic champions Sweden taking on Slovakia.
The Swiss, who lost to the Americans 3-1 in both teams' opening game of the tournament, were lucky to be even at 0-0 going into the second intermission.
With less than five seconds left in the second period, American Ryan Kesler threw the puck at the Swiss net and Swiss net-minder Jonas Hiller mishandled it and appeared to have batted it into his own net.
But after video replay review, officials ruled that the puck had not fully crossed the goal line before time expired.
The Americans bombarded Hiller's goal for the first 40 minutes and finally grabbed the lead 2:08 minutes into the third period as Hiller could not hold Parise's shot and it dribbled into the net.
Late in the game, the Swiss pulled their goalie looking for the equaliser and Parise doubled his goal tally, hitting home the empty-netter in the waning seconds.
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