San Jose General Manager Doug Wilson said he has had preliminary talks with the representative for restricted free agent Patrick Marleau.
Canada has added another gold medal to its national vault of hockey hardware, this time from the 2003 IIHF World Championships courtesy of an Anson Carter goal at 13:49 of the 4-on-4 overtime, which had to be decided by a lengthy video review. It was the 18th gold medal for Canada in World Championships play since 1930. Final score, Canada 3, Sweden 2.
Referee Vladimir Sindler, who had done an impeccable job of officiating all night, had no choice but to review the overtime play which began with Carter skating down the right wing and blasting a shot at goalie Mikael Tellqvist. The goalie got a glove on the puck, but it fell to the side of the net and Carter picked up his own rebound, wheeled around the far side, and wrapped the puck around and in between Tellqvist's right pad and the goalpost.
Carter raised his arms in celebration and the Canadian bench emptied, but the goal light didn't go on and Sindler was in no position to make such a close and important call. He blew play dead and went to the penalty box to confer with the video goal judge, and after about seven or eight minutes Sindler pointed to centre ice, triggering a massive Canadian celebration while the Swedes looked confused and upset. Nevertheless, the video evidence was incontrovertible. The video goal judge had the opportunity to view seven different angles. One angle in particular showed the puck clearly crossing the line when they zoomed in close and ran through the sequence frame by frame. Canada's win was delayed, but it was fair and deserving.
To their full credit, Tre Kronor was sporting in defeat after a game that had been at times extraordinary, particularly the overtime, which was heartstopping for every second of the nearly 14 minutes of play. The game had got to the fourth period thanks to Shane Doan and Shawn Horcoff, who combined for a perfect play deep in the Swedish end midway through the third period.
Horcoff got the puck behind the net--Wayne Gretzky's office, as it were, carrying on an Edmonton tradition--and waited patiently for Doan to get free to Tellqvist's left. He fired a lovely pass to Doan, who buried the shot high to the short side at 9:03 of the third period. The rest of regulation was tense and sometimes wide open. P-J Axelsson had a magnificent shot in front that was gloved by Roberto Luongo, and a few minutes later the Canadian goalie made another huge pad save on Niklas Andersson.
Sindler pocketed his whistle and ignored some minor infractions, letting the players compete and decide the game. The most incredible moments of the last half of the period started when Mats Sundin had a breakaway down the right side, but as he cut in on Luongo and tried to put the puck along the ice to the far side, he lost control of the puck and it slid wide as 13,387 fans gasped, some in horror, some in glee.
As the puck went to the corner, a Canadian defenceman threw the puck up the middle to a breaking Doan, who had a breakaway of his own. He was stopped by Tellqvist. Then Peter Forsberg had control of the puck in the Canadian end for nearly 45 seconds as the period came to a close, and regulation time ended with what was unquestionably the most dramatic few minutes of this year's championship.
But, folks, the best was yet to come! Overtime. Four-on-four. It was as spectacular a stretch of hockey as you'll see in international competition. Players on both teams took shifts that lasted 20-30 seconds, and loss of possession by one team meant a 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 the other way. Steve Reinprecht had a great chance for Canada early on, but Peter Nordstrom came right back and tested Luongo. Nordstrom had another great chance with a slapshot a few minutes later, and Carter also had a super opportunity barrelling down the right wing in a similar manner to the way in which he would score several minutes later.
The game started out decidedly in the Swedes' favor. They had control of play while the Canadians seemed tentative and nervous for most of the first period, in great measure because of the Swedish strategy of getting on the Canadian defencemen and pressuring the puck carrier. The less time the Canadian players had to think, the more turnovers Tre Kronor produced. The Swedes were rewarded midway through the period when Henrik Zetterberg made a fine rush down the right side off a turnover in the Canadian end. Luongo made the save as Zetterberg went to the net, but Mathias Tjarnqvist popped in the rebound to give the Swedes a 1-0 lead at 10:17.
Less than two minutes later, Canada had a power play, but it was Sundin and Axelsson who had the best scoring chance, Axelsson shooting just wide on a perfect pass from Sundin. The Swedes continued to dominate, and Peter Forsberg simply could not be knocked off the puck. Yet, to the credit of Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby, the Canadian duo assigned to "Foppa" all night, the Forsberg line was held off the scoresheet despite its many quality scoring opportunities.
Late in the period, the Swedes opened up a huge 2-0 lead when Mikael Renberg fired a long bullet pass up the middle from one blueline to the other to Axelsson, who beat Luongo between the legs on the breakaway. The turning point, though, came less than a minute later when Canada struck back. First Craig Rivet missed a great chance to score when he shot wide, but moments later Horcoff scooped a loose puck to the side of the net with Tellqvist down and swiped it into the open side. That brought the score to 2-1 Sweden at 19:17, a goal that was crucial to giving Canada an emotional life before the end of the period.
It was a mini-comeback reminiscent of the semi-finals when the Czechs tied the game 3-3 early in the third period and then Canada regained the lead--and team confidence--a minute later.
In the second, Canada started out with greater conviction, but the Swedes played flawless defense and continued to pressure the Canadian man with the puck. Axelsson had another great chance but was bettered by Luongo's glove, and Forsberg continued to dominate down low. There were fewer scoring chances in the period, which helped Canada because it kept the game close while giving the Canadians reason to believe it was only a matter of time before they would tie the score.
In the third, the Swedes were less aggressive and gave Canada more ice as they tried to sit on the lead, a scenario that rarely works. Doan's tying goal midway through the period triggered the wild ending and amazing overtime which was extended to 20 minutes and reduced to 4-on-4 for the first time by the IIHF at this tournament. Its one previous use came in Canada's 3-2 quarter-final win over Germany, but tonight's OT action provided a drama of another order. Clearly this is a format that will be around a while.
At the start of the tournament, who would have thought this Canadian roster would play such superb defense and allow but a single power play goal? And, who would have thought the team would have an unbeaten record of 8-0-1!? The team won a medal at the World Championships for the first time since 1997, again in Finland, when it beat Sweden 2-1 in the final game of a best-of-three series. Players from this team who were there six years ago include Carter, Cory Cross, and the injured Sean Burke, as well as coach Andy Murray.
The most deserving player to win, though, might be captain Ryan Smyth, who has been playing in his fifth consecutive World Championships and has appeared in an all-time Canadian record of 42 games at these tournaments. It is his first medal, and it will, no doubt, look quite nice beside his Olympic gold from Salt Lake City 2002. The only other medalist here from 2002 is teammate and defenceman Eric Brewer, giving full measure to a Canadian team not made up of superstars.
The victory gives Canada the undisputed championship of world hockey for the present. The country has won consecutive gold medals in the U-18; it won silver at the U-20 in Halifax in January; it won gold at the 2002 Olympics; and now comes this gold at the 2003 IIHF World Championships. Add to that the fact that Canada is champion of the Spengler Cup and the Deutschland Cup, and the Canadian women are both 2002 Olympic champions and gold medal winners of all eight World Championships played.
If there's an intangible that has led Canada to the gold medal game at the world hockey championship, it's team chemistry.
The most difficult hurdle for Canadian teams to clear every year at this tournament is figuring out the nuances of the international game in a matter of two weeks.
But what is just as hard is for 23 players to come together in a short time and truly become a team, particularly when many of those players have never played alongside each other before.
And the best judge of that is captain Ryan Smyth, who is playing in his fifth consecutive world championship and will finally earn his first medal of any colour this year.
"Over the course of the five years I've been here this is the closest team I've been a part of," Smyth said Saturday after practice. "We've had some great players come through over the last five years, but just the mixture of everything we have here has been great."
That sentiment has been shared by all the players who have been asked to explain Canada's success this year.
"This is a very good group of guys, we're very tight," says rising star Dany Heatley. "Everyone is pulling for each other. Winning Sunday would be a perfect ending to this tournament.
"I can't say enough," added Heatley. "We have some great leaders and a great bunch of guys. It's a team that's come together quickly and it shows on the ice."
When asked about his close-knit team, head coach Andy Murray answered with a philosophical question.
"You always associate chemistry with winning. And what comes first, the chemistry or the winning? We've played well here and it's been a positive feeling," he said.
"You certainly have some tremendous character people in that dressing room that set a fine example. And I think they've enjoyed being around each other."
Veteran centre Kris Draper knows a good thing when he sees it.
"Whenever I've been fortunate enough to win Stanley Cups with Detroit that's the one thing we talk about: the chemistry that we have," Draper says. "And that's big on this team. ...
"When individuals sacrifice their goals for team goals that's when you're going to be a dangerous club and that's where we are at right now."
On and off the ice, the players on the Canadian team have the appearance of having been together for years, let alone three weeks.
"Even doing things we do it all together with family, everyone goes out as a group," says Smyth.
"It's like one big family. No one is afraid to talk to anybody else. It's going to be hard to go back to the NHL and face these guys."
When goalie Roberto Luongo came in for the injured Sean Burke in Friday's 8-4 semifinal win over the Czechs, his teammates praised him for his work despite what Luongo says wasn't his best effort after giving up four goals.
And he prepared to start the biggest game of his career Sunday, Luongo said he really felt the immense support and trust of his teammates.
"This is a great group of guys," Luongo said. "It's one of the closest bunch of guys I have ever been with. It's amazing how quickly we bonded as a team."
One of the tell-tale signs of team harmony is how no one - at least outwardly - complained about diminished roles or less ice time during the tournament.
Patrick Marleau, a star centre for the San Jose Sharks, responded to being put on the fourth line Friday by playing his best game of the championship.
Krys Kolanos of the Phoenix Coyotes is the 13th forward and rarely gets on the ice but he's one of the hardest-working players in practice and made a great play to set up Heatley for Canada's fifth goal on Friday.
"The good thing about our team is that we have so many different guys playing roles, different guys stepping up," says forward Anson Carter. "That's what you need to have a real team. You look around our room and nobody is hanging their heads or sulking, everybody is chipping in.
"We all believe in one another and trust one another. That's really the thing we wanted to focus on early in the tournament. It's nice to see it's all coming together now."
At the 2003 World Ice Hockey Championships, host Finland blew a commanding lead in the quarterfinals against rival Sweden, the United States had to win the relegation round even to be invited back to the tournament and Germany played well enough to reach the medal round. Those were the big stories.
The quiet story at the championships has been Canada's march to the gold medal game. Yes, they are expected to be there every year, but they haven't been in a while.
On Saturday, Sharks center Patrick Marleau and his teammates will attempt to bring the gold across the pond for the first time since 1997. To do so, they will have to defeat the loaded Swedish team in the finals.
With all the talent that Canada possesses, it is surprising that they have not won the World Championships even once in their last six chances. Saturday could be different.
"I think we've got the right guys here," said Marleau who is skating at his third championships.
Marleau has registered four assists in the tournament, including two helpers in the semifinal win over the Czech Republic, but he has yet to post a goal.
"I'm struggling scoring, but I'm taking care of things in our zone," said Marleau. "Hopefully I can help out with a goal Saturday."
Whether he scores or not, Marleau is happy with the way his country is playing.
"The team is winning," said Marleau. "We have one big game left and anything can happen. Everyone is used to the different style and we have done well."
Winning gold would be the ultimate accomplishment in Finland, but Marleau also enjoys the camaraderie of his fellow NHLers.
"If we can win, we will have a special bond," said Marleau. "I've made some good friends this year and in the past. It is also nice because it lets me see what other players are all about and that can make me more prepared to play next season."
Kissing his mini-slump goodbye, Dany Heatley scored three goals, two on beautiful passes from Daniel Briere, to help defeat the Czech Republic 8-4 and advance to the gold medal game for the first time since 1997 when the team was victorious. Briere had three assists on the afternoon, and a total of six Canadians contributed goals.
After winning three straight titles from 1999 to 2001, the Czechs have failed to capture gold for the second consecutive year. They'll meet the loser from the Slovakia-Sweden game for bronze.
Introduced in their imposing red sweaters, Canada started with Sean Burke in goal while the Czechs went with Tomas Vokoun. But by the midway point of the game both goalies were out and the backups were asked to carry the load for the rest of the game.
Slavomir Lener, the Czech coach, pulled Vokoun to wake up his listless Czech team after falling behind 3-0. In Canada's case, Burke suffered a lower-body injury and could not continue.
Skating with confidence, the Czechs had a number of excellent chances after the opening faceoff, but Burke made some fine stops to keep the puck out of the net while his skaters calmed down and found their legs. Robert Reichel had a great chance from ten feet out in the first minute that Burke blocked, and then Martin Straka and Jan Hlavac both had great opportunities that Burke refused to let by. Steve Staios helped wake up the Canadian bench with two great bodychecks, and Canada got on the board first on a power play.
Eric Brewer drifted a quick shot on net. It fell at Vokoun's feet, but before he could trap it, Shane Doan banged in the loose puck. Jaroslv Modry was in the box at the time. For the rest of the period, Canada had the better of the play and the Czechs looked disinterested in playing a skating or hitting game.
Similarly, it was all Canada again in the second period. A Briere to Heatley pass resulted in a great scoring chance early on, and at 3:57 a perfect drop pass by the former allowed Heatley to tee the puck up and drill a hard slapshot between Vokoun's legs.
Andy Murray didn't worry too much about matching Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby--his checking specialists--against Milan Hejduk, Straka, and Hlavac. Instead, the whole team played superbly inside their own blueline. Soon after the Heatley goal, though, Burke skated quickly to the Canadian bench and headed straight for the dressing room while Roberto Luongo hurriedly put on his mask and made his way to the ice.
Noted Shane Doan, a Phoenix teammate of Burke's: "Burkie's been so important to us and right now I think he's the best goalie in the world. But when you have Luongo coming in, it feels pretty good. He's probably the premier up-and-coming goalie in the NHL, and he's established himself as a number-one guy in the league."
Doan's words were accurate. Luongo came in and played steadily, giving the team that needed confidence to keep playing the same game. Jay Bouwmeester opened a huge 3-0 lead for the Canadians when he took a perfect pass from Shawn Horcoff, walked in alone on goal from the point, and hit the far side with a perfect shot. It was then that Leder took Vokoun out and inserted Roman Malek, but while the move worked in the second period, it backfired in the third as Malek struggled to stop any but the most routine of shots.
Hugely important to the game was Czech captain Robert Reichel who got the Czechs back in the game with a 4-on-3 power-play goal at 14:30. He ripped a quick wrist shot to the short side over Luongo's left shoulder. The Czechs came to life and pressed the rest of the period, and they were rewarded in the last minute. A simple point shot from Petr Kadlec was redirected in front by Reichel, and all of a sudden that 3-0 lead was 3-2 after two periods.
Under threat of losing another lead as they did to Germany wto nights ago, the Canadians headed to the dressing room to regroup. The promise of an interesting third period came to fruition early. Jiri Hudler made a lovely pass to the back door side of Luongo to Hejduk, and he calmly walked out in front and buried a shot to the far side to tie the game at 2:04.
With the game tied and lead gone, Andy Murray wisely called a timeout at that point, and he managed to refocus his team. "We knew at that point that the next goal was probably going to win the game," he said afterward.
Sure enough, the message hit home with the players. Two shifts later, Horcoff sent a pass to Kyle Calder on a similar play as Hudler to Hejduk, but Calder waited for Malek to go down and then shifted the other way to put the puck in the open side of the net. Canada had restored its lead, and the Czechs were noticeably deflated to see their fine comeback go by the wayside so quickly.
Of the backbreaking goal, Lener was philosophical: "We did well to come back, but we played a lot of minutes on emotion. After that fourth goal, we couldn't handle the Canadians. It's very hard to find a weakness in their team."
"Naturally, we were nervous when they tied the game, but we know they can score," Kyle Calder added. "We were nervous the rest of the game but we got a couple of big goals and were able to turn the game around."
Most of the rest of the period was dominated by Canada, though the team was helped by Malek's weak play. Krys Kolanos made a beautiful fake on the defenseman on a 2-on-1 before throwing the puck across to Heatley, who slammed home the pass at 8:41 to make it 5-3.
Only four minutes later, Horcoff got a goal of his own on another lovely pass, this from Patrick Marleau, and although Radek Duda scored on a slapshot at 17:08, the Canadians weren't done yet. Mathieu Dandeneault scored five-hole and then Heatley closed out the scoring on the best pass of the night, from Briere, before finishing with the prettiest goal of the night, a backhand under the crossbar on the short side.
"Nothing suggested that that could happen," said Doan. "It's not your typical game against the Czechs where there are 12 goals. It was a lot of fun and a great win for us. They've mastered playing well on defense on the big ice, so no one expected all these goals today."
Daniel Briere ended the game with three assists, and Marleau and Horcoff had two each. Shots were 31-29 in favour of Canada, and referee Thomas Andersson did a good job of letting the players decide the game. Canada now will play the winner of tonight's Sweden-Slovakia game on Sunday for the gold medal.
As a result, Canada, guaranteed a silver medal, would not be so easily satisfied. "We hope to turn silver into gold on Sunday," Murray ended, smiling.
Yet if Sweden wins, fans will finally have the matchup they were expecting at Salt Lake City at the 2002 Olympics. If it's Slovakia, Canada will try to avenge a quarter-finals loss from a year ago, 3-2, when the team allowed a goal at 19:59 of the second period to get the Slovaks in the game. "If we play our game, I think we can beat either one of them," Heatley enthused after.
Either way, it will be a classic international finals.
Just 37 seconds into overtime Eric Brewer drifted a shot past a screened Robert Muller on the power play to give Canada a 3-2 win and move his team on to the semi-finals Friday night in Helsinki.
Even though Canada started the game heavily favored, the game was even for much of the time, in large part because of the effective German checking and defensive play.
Nevertheless, the Canadians started off on the right foot by scoring at 3:04 to take an early 1-0 lead. Playing with the extra man, Ryan Smyth tried a wraparound that was stopped by Muller, but Smyth kept banging away and eventually pushed the puck through the goalie and over the red line. The rest of the period was somewhat lifeless and tame, though it was Sean Burke at the other end who had the two toughest stops in the period.
After Smyth's goal, Burke stoned Marcel Goc from in close, and then a few minutes later he made a fine save off a one-timer by Jan Benda who took a cross-ice pass and fired without hesitation. The first period ended 1-0.
No sooner did the second period start than Mike Comrie hit the post with a shot along the ice to the far side, but the disc stayed out and the score remained 1-0. Daniel Kreutzer had a great opportunity to tie the game for the Germans, but Burke got in the way of his high shot. Later on, both Patrick Marleau and Kyle Calder had great opportunities for Canada, but it wasn't until 12:43 that another goal was scored.
Daniel Briere placed himself in front of the German goal, and when a low point shot from Cory Cross made its way to the goal, Briere tipped the puck past Muller to give the Canadians an impressive 2-0 lead. It was now up to the tournament's best defense to do its job and guide the team to victory.
Alas, jobs such as this are more easily said than done. Just 4:31 into the third period, the Germans found some life when they scored on the first defensive mistake by the team in the game. A quick point shot by Andreas Morczinietz made its way to Burke, who made the save, but he couldn't control the rebound and before he could find the puck an unguarded Lasse Kopitz had flipped it into the open side of the net.
Not satisfied, the Germans started to press and the Canadians sat back a bit, seemingly content to nurse a 2-1 lead that was by no means guaranteed. At the other end, Muller came up with his best stop of the night, off Steve Reinprecht from the top of the crease, and the game opened up a bit for the first time. Germany knew it had to score once more, while Canada looked to pounce on a German gamble to create a chance of its own.
Daniel Kunce had an excellent opportunity off to the side of the net, but Burke did what he does best, taking away the lower part of the net, and the score remained 2-1. As the clock kept ticking, the Germans finally found the break they were waiting for. Jan Benda made a perfect pass to Kreutzer inside the Canadian line, but Kyle Calder on the backcheck made a beautiful play to intercept. However, as he turned around to gain control of the puck, he fell and it landed on Kreutzer's stick anyway. The German forward made an excellent shot over Burke's right shoulder at 14:00 and the game was tied 2-2.
Roused by the turn of events, the Germans kept pressing and drew a power play when Craig Rivet was whistled for cross checking. The virtually flawless Canadian penalty killing did its job, and then at 18:46 the Canadians drew a penalty of their own when Daniel Kunce was called for slashing after trying to clear Kris Draper from in front of the German goal.
"They sit back and play a patient game," Smyth said after. "We thought we took the first two periods and we thought we should have put the game away, but they kept forechecking a little bit harder and they kept themselves in it. They deserve a lot of credit."
Even though the Canadians couldn't score before the end of regulation time, they came back for a fourth period--designated as 20 minutes of four-on-four hockey for the first time in IIHF history--with 46 seconds still left in Kunce's penalty (thus, the period started 4-on-3 to Canada's advantage). Coach Andy Murray started Brewer, Smyth, Mike Comrie, and Dany Heatley, and this proved to be the winning combination.
With time running down on the man advantage, Brewer threw a shot on net that Muller didn't see. The puck floated into the net, and Canada won the game 3-2 in a much closer fashion that it had wanted.
"They played hard the whole game," Brewer said of their worthy opponents. "We were aware that was the kind of game they'd play. They just didn't seem to lose any confidence."
For Canada, it was the first overtime winning goal in either the World Championships or Olympics since Paul Kariya's goal at 5:54 of OT in the 1994 quarter-finals at the Olympics in Lillehammer to eliminate the Czechs. Brewer's goal was also the second fastest in World or Olympic competition. On May 10, 2001, Darby Hendrickson scored 32 seconds into the fourth period to give the USA a 4-3 win over Canada at the World Championships in Germany.
Overall, the Canadians outshot the Germans 34-30. Canada went 2-for-3 with the man advantage and didn't allow a German goal during four power plays against. Brewer was named the Player of the Game for Canada and Kopitz for Germany won the Tissot watch for his night's work.
Referring to the IIHF's new overtime policy for this year, German coach Hans Zach lamented his team's misfortune. "It was a tremendous game and we had a chance to win. We were unlucky in overtime because a 5-on-4 is better for us than a 4-on-3 which gave the Canadians more ice."
Echoing Smyth's sentiments, Brewer explained: "In my mind we had a lot of the first half of the game in our favor, but they hung in there and never played themselves out of the game."
Very proud of his team's effort, German captain Jan Benda said: "We had heavy legs in the first period. We felt the Canadians were dominating, and they put us back with an early first goal when we wanted to play a 0-0 period. But we always felt we had a chance."
"We have had some tough times excelling in the playoff rounds coming over here, so we just relaxed and played our game," Smyth said. "We were well prepared by our coaches and we did what we had to do."
Relief written on their faces, the Canadians now head to Helsinki tomorrow to face the winner of tonight's Russia-Czech Republic game. The Germans can go home proud of having had an excellent tournament and coming within a goal of the semi-finals. "Losing to Canada in the quarter-finals isn't so bad," Zach admitted.
Both Canada and Russia were playing tonight's game for something, but only Canada got what it was after. With a convincing 5-2 victory at the Elysee Arena in Turku, the still-undefeated Canadians have secured first place in Group F heading into the quarter-finals, which begin on Wednesday.
The Russians are now winless in three Qualifying Round games and must sit by their television sets tomorrow night and hope that the Swiss don't tie or beat Sweden. If that happens, the Latvians are in, and, amazingly, the Russians are going home.
Canada played two lacklustre games against weak opponents in the past week heading into tonight's game against Russia. Russia, meanwhile, lost to Sweden and Latvia, making their situation precarious in terms of qualifying for the quarter-finals. Yet this tight-checking game was overpoweringly dominated by the Canadian defense, which allowed no room for Russian skating and dancing in over the blueline with the puck.
"We knew because of the rivalry and the fact that many of those guys have played in North America that it was going to be a physical game and we wanted to prove ourselves," Canadian forward Kirk Maltby said. "We knew these guys had a lot of skill, but they sometimes try to do too much. We knew if we stuck to our game plan and didn't run around in our end we could play well against them."
The top Russian line of Igor Grigorenko-Pavel Datsyuk-Ilya Kovalchuk was all but invisible tonight, in part because of their own strangely uninspiring performance, in part because of Kris Draper's tenacious checking which the Russian threesome couldn't shake. Nor did coach Vladimir Plyushchev feel it necessary to mix his lines at any point. When the Russians did penetrate the Canadian blueline, they had mostly long shots blocked superbly by Sean Burke, who looked virtually unbeatable down low.
"Some players didn't prepare so seriously," Plyuschev scolded. "They went to the sauna or swimming pool instead." Ouch.
The Russians actually took an early lead when Alexander Frolov drifted a high point shot on the power play that eluded Burke. It was easily one of six similar goals scored here in Turku, driving home the point that it's not how hard you shoot--it's getting it on the net that counts.
Soon after, though, the Canadians replied with an extra-man goal of their own. Ryan Smyth, from the corner, placed a perfect pass on Shane Doan's stick, and he didn't hesitate to drive the puck past Podomatski from the slot. Chants of "Latvia! Latvia" filled the arena, as the crowd urged on the Canadians to help oust the Russians in favour of Latvia.
Early in the second, the Russians had two excellent chances when first Alexander Suglobov came in on a breakaway and then Sergei Zinoviev had a point-blank chance, but both were shots that Burke stopped superbly to keep the score tied. A good bit of forechecking a short time later by Doan and a perfect pass to Kirk Maltby gave the Canadians the lead. Maltby took the puck behind Podomatski, and on the wraparound he went high on his backhand, a beautiful shot to make it 2-1.
Daniel Briere counted Canada's winning goal again off a simple wrist shot from the point by Jay Bouwmeester. Briere tipped the puck in past a surprised Podomatski, and the Canadians were thoroughly in control by this point. "(Vasili) Turkovski made some mistakes on the third goal," Plyuschev said. "But it wasn't just him. For the second game in a row, our defence was weak, and I cannot understand why."
If there was any doubt about the outcome, Maltby dispelled that with his second goal of the game, a shorthanded effort as he skated down the right side and beat Podomatski between the legs with a shot the goalie should have stopped. Doan, on another deflection, closed out the scoring for Canada, which coasted to victory by playing virtually impeccable defense. The only lapse was a goal by Denis Arkhipov at 18:01 that beat Burke over the shoulder.
So now, on Wednesday, Canada will play one quarter-finals game--opponent and city to be determined after the Finland-Germany game tomorrow night--while the Russians will play the Czechs in Turku if the Russians advance.
Anson Carter scored in the second period and Shawn Horcoff added another goal in the third to lead Canada to a 2-0 win over Switzerland tonight at the Elysee Arena in Turku. Roberto Luongo picked up the shutout as Sean Burke was given the night off for the Canadians.
The game did not start out quite as the Canadians had hoped. They didn’t come out hitting and skating, though they did carry the play and had most of the scoring chances as the Swiss played a conservative, defensive game. Kris Draper, Patrick Marleau, and Anson Carter all missed great scoring chances, though goalie Marco Buhrer has to be given some of the credit for keeping the puck out of the net. Shots in the first were 14-6 for Canada, but the game was scoreless after 20 minutes.
"We struggled to make decisions in the first period because the Canadians play so quickly and so hard," Swiss Coach Ralph Krueger acknowledged. "We had to focus on one shift at a time, one period at a time."
In the second, the Swiss continued to frustrate the Canadians to no end, playing disciplined defense that also relied on hooking, holding, and interference to prevent the Canadians from penetrating and maintaining puck possession inside the Swiss end. "There was a lot of clutching and grabbing out there," Dany Heatley said. "But we still have to go out there and play our game."
Luongo made a great save on Luca Cereda on an early breakaway created by the long pass, his first tough test of the night. The only goal of the period came when Ryan Smyth made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Anson Crater who one-timed a slapshot perfectly at 12:16 on the power play.
For the rest of the period, though, the Swiss had as many scoring chances, and the teams headed to the dressing room with that 1-0 score. "There were times when we tried to do too much," Heatley said, "but we wanted the win and control of our destiny heading into the quarter-finals."
The third was a fairly dull 20 minutes, though Canada scored an insurance goal when Eric Brewer's floating point shot dropped in Buhrer's crease. Before he could freeze play, Horcoff jammed the loose puck into the net, and Canada had all the offense it needed. Most of the rest of the period was dull, checking dominating over skating and passing, though Canada had the better of the play and chances. Canada outshot the Swiss 34-23, most Swiss shots from long range as the bigger and stronger Canadian defensemen did a superb job in front of Luongo.
"I thought we were strong physically tonight," Canadian coach Andy Murray agreed. "We showed a lot of discipline playing their system and we were solid in our own end. Switzerland had a lot of respect from us before the game, but it's even more now. In previous championships, they would get down on themselves after falling behind, but they had their best shift of the game right after we scored to make it 2-0."
The win gives Canada seven points and first place in the Group F standings heading into tomorrow night's game against Russia. The result is crucial for the Russians if they hope to guarantee a spot in the quarter-finals. Ditto for Switzerland the next night when it plays Sweden. A loss for either team means that they will have to rely on other teams to qualify.
Denmark stunned Canada here this afternoon in Turku, playing the Maple Leaf to a 2-2 tie at the Elysee Arena in the first game of the Qualifying Round. It was worth just a point in the standings to the Danes, but it made up for a 47-0 walloping Canada administered the small hockey country in the 1949 World Championships. Things have changed a great deal in 54 years.
From the outset Canada played uninspired hockey, but at 4:39 a harmless point shot from defenceman Jay Bouwmeester found the back of the net and Canada had a 1-0 lead. That was the last routine moment of the afternoon. The Danes lined five men up in the centre ice area and clogged all passing lanes the entire game, forcing the Canadians to dump the puck in. When Canada refused to play into that trap, it was the puck carrier having to beat four men to get to the net, and this just never happened.
The Danes had only two genuine scoring chances in the first period and they capitalized on both in the later stages of the first 20 minutes. Dan Jensen took a long shot on goalie Sean Burke while a delayed penalty on Canada had the Danes' own netminder Peter Hirsch on the bench for the extra skater. The high shot eluded Burke, and the game was tied. Just 21 seconds later, Lars Molgaard found himself alone in front with the puck, and he drilled a slapshot from about ten feet out over the glove of Burke. Just like that the score was 2-1 for Denmark, and Canada, stunned, was on its heels.
Canada did not respond well to the adversity. The team did not play a physical game, and cohesive passing was all but absent. Gone was the emotion from the inspired 3-1 win over Sweden before a capacity crowd to close out the Preliminary Round, and although theCanadians generated more than enough scoring chances to win, they had no finish to their plays.
Late in the second period Daniel Briere won the draw back to Bouwmeester, and he wristed a lazy shot on goal that Hirsch didn't see in time. It got Canada back into the game "The hope was to put shots on net and something would happen," Bouwmeetser said afterwards, though he didn't realize how little would happen over the course of 60 minutes. The teams went to their dressing rooms-stationed, incidentally, right beside each other-with the score tied 2-2.
"That's the game we should play, very simple and boring and the longer the game goes the better we are," said Kim Staal. "The Canadians were getting more and more frustrated, so that's when we knew we had a chance."
Canada, however, did not learn its lesson from two periods of frustration and ineffectiveness. The third was much of the same as the first two, Canadian individual efforts being thwarted and the Danes getting the puck out more often than not when Canada dumped it in. The final minutes of the game were marked by a frantic Canadian attack which had been lacking for the first 56 minutes, and the ending got even weirder when backup goalie Jan Jensen received a minor penalty for roughing while on the bench. A scrum had ensued between players on ice, and Jensen reached over the boards and cuffed a Canadian. The ensuing power play, though, was killed to perfection by the Danes, and at the final horn they mobbed their goalie in celebration while the Canadians skated to Burke with heads bowed and pride broken.
"We got into a comfort zone on ice," coach Andy Murray said afterward. "We had plenty of chances but just couldn't put them in. It seems that at every World Championships, Canada always has one of these types of games."
"They played the type of game we knew they'd play, but we didn't respond the way we needed to," Burke said in lower tones. "We got frustrated and we didn't have the jump we needed."
Canada outshot the Danes 42-22 and were sometimes at their most effective when killing a penalty, which they had to do seven times today.
Denmark will now face Sweden tomorrow while Canada must wait until a Sunday date with Switzerland to get back into the game, so to speak.