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HOCKEYTALK.BIZ RECAP: CANADA 3 USA 2 (OT) BY CHARLES SMITH FEBRUARY 28, 2009 -- This is one of those rare moments when even in defeat, one's head can be held high. Team USA, definitive underdogs coming into the Olympics and the youngest team in the tournament, came within a whisker of a historic upset of the Gold Medal winning team from Canada. With only 24 seconds to play in regulation, forward Zach Parise made his father and retired NHL player J.P. Parise the proudest father on the planet when he hammered a rebound past Roberto Luongo to lift Team USA into a 2-2 tie with Team Canada to force sudden death overtime in the Gold Medal game. As the ice was resurfaced for the overtime period, random thoughts ran through the minds of hockey fans everywhere. There were more than enough subplots to go around. Team Canada defenseman Scott Niedermayer, who seems determined to squeeze the lemon absolutely dry before he retires, was on the ice for the tying goal and was in need of redemption. Brian Rafalski of the USA was having the tournament of his life, maybe it was again his time, as it was in Team USA's preliminary victory over Canada. Rafalski's USA Teammate Dustin Brown had played hard all game and done everything but score, and nobody can overlook the wizardry of Patrick Kane. The hopes and dreams of Team USA came to a screeching halt at 7:40 into OT when Sidney Crosby, arguably the best hockey player on the planet, beat goaltender Ryan Miller after a beautiful give-and-go pass from Jarome Iginla, to lift Team Canada to Gold Medal glory. Ryan Miller would be named MVP of the tournament, but Canada would take home the ultimate prize. Crosby's shot spoke volumes about his effectiveness. Sid the Kid didn't even look at Miller or where he was going to shoot. Crosby simply swiped it at the net, and his low shot eluded Miller. The future for Team USA definitely looks bright, as they forced the best team in the world to overtime of the Gold Medal game. No shame there, although defeat always stings. This was an Olympics not soon to be forgotten. There has been talk that in the future, the NHL will no longer shut down the league for 2 weeks to send players to the Olympics. If so, then this was the perfect way to go out, if not, the 2014 Olympics will be the most eagerly awaited in quite some time. Any way you look at it, it was truly terrific and memorable. You may now exhale. PREVIEW BY DENNIS BERNSTEIN Although the 2010 Winter
Games were supposed to be the coronation and culmination of the Canadian
Olympic hockey team, it’s been the United States that’s played like
destiny’s darlings. Ryan Miller has been the difference when he has to be,
Brian Rafalski has provided offense from an unexpected source and the
overall team has come with the proper sense of urgency needed in a short
tournament.
Compiled by Gaby Martinez SEMIFINALS (Friday, Feb 26) USA 6 Finland 0 Canada 3 Slovakia 2 Lubomir Visnovsky and Michal Handzus scored late goals to draw Slovakia within one goal, but Canada hung on to win, 3-2 Friday night to advance to the gold medal game against the US. Patrick Marleau and Brenden Morrow scored first period goals, and Ryan Getzlaf added what proved to be the winner in the second. Slovakia's Jaro Halak made 25 saves; Roberto Luongo of Canada, 19. QUARTERFINALS (Wednesday, Feb 24) Slovakia 4 Sweden 3 Slovakia's Tomas Kopecky scored the game winner in the third period on a feed from Marian Hossa, and the Slovaks stunned defending gold medalist Sweden, 4-3, late Wednesday night. Marian Gaborik, Andreas Sekera, Pavol Demitra also tallied for the Slovaks. Slovakia joined the IIHF after the breakup of the former Czechoslovakia in 1994. Pat Hornqvist, Henrik Zetterberg and Daniel Alfredsson scored for Sweden. Slovakia meets Canada Friday. Finland 2 Czech Republic 0 Finland defeated the Czech Republic 2-0 and advance to the semifinals against the USA. The game went scoreless for the first two periods as both teams played defense-minded hockey. According to Olympic rules, Kubina was forced to either return to the bench to fix his helmet or put it back on and continue playing. On the ensuing power play, a point shot by Janne Niskala was tipped by Nik Hagman past Czech goalie Tomas Vokoun with 6:26 remaining in the third. It was the game's first goal, and proved to be the game-winner. Finland tallied once more at 18:25 with an empty netter by Valtteri Filppula to seal the deal. Finland will play the USA in the semifinals. Mikka Kiprusoff recorded the shutout for Finland. Canada 7 Russia 3 Canada made quite a statement to their competition with their triumphant 7-3 victory over Russia Wednesday. Team Canada received scoring from multiple sources, including Ryan Getzlaf, Dan Boyle, Rick Nash, Brenden Morrow, Shea Weber and Corey Perry, who scored twice. Canada dominated the first period and Russia made an effort to come back in the second, but it was useless. Russia goalie Evgeni Nabokov was replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov after Canada scored its sixth goal at the beginning of the second period, but it was too late. With this victory, Canada will play the winner of the Sweden vs. Slovakia game. USA 2 Switzerland 0 Zach Parise scored both US goals and Ryan Miller recorded the first Team USA shutout since Mike Richter in 2002. USA will play the winner of the Czech Republic vs. Finland match. Team USA's Zach Parise scored a pair of goals, his first of the tournament. Parise opened the scoring at 2:08 of the third on the power play; his second, an empty netter, sealed the game. Swiss goaltender Jonas Hiller played very well, giving his team several chances to come back, stopping 43 shots in the losing effort. USA will play in the semifinals against the winner of the Czech Republic vs. Finland game. QUALIFICATION ROUND (Tuesday night, Feb 23) Switzerland 3 Belarus 2 (SO) Each team tallied in the first and second periods. The third period remained scoreless for both teams. Jonas Hiller played brilliantly for the Swiss, stopping 20 out of 22 shots in regulation and both Belarusian shootout attempts. Switzerland will face Team USA in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Canada 8 vs. Germany 2 Canada dominated the game in the second and third periods. Notable goal scorers included Joe Thornton, Shea Weber, Mike Richards, Rick Nash, Scott Niedermayer and Jarome Iginla, who scored twice. Roberto Luongo replaced Martin Brodeur in net as a result of his loss to USA on Sunday. Canada will play Russia in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Czech Republic 3 vs. Latvia 2 (OT) Tomas Vokoun backstopped the Czech Republic to a 3-2 victory over Latvia in overtime. Boson Bruin David Krejci scored the game winning goal in the extra session, firing a wrist shot between the pads of Edgars Masalskis. The Czechs held on to the victory after Latvia came back with two third period goals to tie the game and send it to overtime. Although the Czechs hung on for the win, they did lose Jaromir Jagr in the second period due to a neck injury. The Czech Republic will play Finland in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Slovakia 4 Norway 3 Miroslav Satan scored with 11:19 remaining to fend off a challenge from Norway as the Slovaks won, 4-3. Longtime Slovak favorite Lubos Bartecko left the ice on a stretcher after a vicious elbow from Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. The Slovaks built a 3-1 first period lead on power play goals by Michal Handzus, Marian Gaborik and Richard Zednik. Slovakia faces Sweden in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
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