photo credit: Jeff Vinnick, Hockey Canada
The nation to our north could rest easy last night because their puck boys, as expected, rolled over Germany, 8-2, to advance to today’s quarterfinals. Just don’t relax too much or too long with Russia up next.
Jarome Iginla scored his fourth and fifth goals of the tournament, Eric Staal added three assists playing with Iginla and Sidney Crosby, and Roberto Luongo made 21 saves against the anemic German attack. The postgame conversation, though, quickly shifted to Ovechkin & Co.
“That’s a big rivalry. We all now it,” said Crosby. “It’s something everyone’s been talking about. It’s something we thought that sooner or later would happen.” Just not in the quarters.
But this is the road Canada must travel after Sunday night’s upset at the hands of the Americans. Head coach Mike Babcock responded to that by replacing Martin Brodeur with Canuck Roberto Luongo. And by reshuffling his lines in hopes of energizing some of his scuffling snipers.
It’s impossible to grade the goalie flip-flop because Sven Butenschon has lost a step for Germany. But you did see Joe Thornton score his first goal of this tournament. Staal-Crosby-Iginla dominated the puck whenever they were on the ice. And while he still has not scored in these Games, Rick Nash was sharp on the left wing of Anaheim duo Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
The only drama on this night for Canada were whispers of mild discontent among the players over Babcock chosing Crosby over Nash for a penalty shot. The Columbus winger drew the penalty by driving to the net, and could have used the opportunity to build some confidence, but Babcock went with Crosby because his shootout numbers are better.
That minor issue will be long forgotten by 7:30pm ET when Russia and Canada take the ice in Vancouver. “We don’t have the kind of pressure that [they] have right now because they’re the home team,” said Alex Ovechkin. And while that’s true, no one back in the Mother Country will accept a quarterfinal loss, so there’s plenty of pressure on Alex and his buddies, too.
The Russians must also deal with a Canadian Hockey Place crowd that chanted “We Want Russia!” in the final minutes last night. When Ovechkin runs over Crosby a la Jaromir Jagr this weekend, those fans will regret opening their mouths.
SWITZERLAND 3 – BELARUS 2 in a shootout
Despite what our Tuesday preview told you, Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller was not the best player on the ice yesterday afternoon. But he made two saves in the skills competition to avoid the upset.
CZECH REPUBLIC 3 – LATVIA 2 OT
The Czech Republic avoided a larger upset thanks to David Krejci’s tally 5:10 into overtime. More important, though, is the upper-body injury Jaromir Jagr suffered in the first period. He only played seven shifts.
SLOVAKIA 4 – NORWAY 3
Thore Vikingstad and his fellow Norwegians could not pull off the upset we predicted in this spot yesterday…but they almost did. Miroslav Satan notched the game-winner at 8:41 of the final period. This game marred, though, by a gruesome injury to Slovakia forward Lubos Bartecko. He was felled by Ole-Kristian Tollefsen’s illegal elbow. Bartecko slammed the back of his head on the ice because his helmet had been knocked off. As he lay unconscious on the ice, blood pooled underneath him. After a 10-minute delay, Bartecko was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Wednesday Schedule (all times are Eastern)
Switzerland – USA 3:00 pm
Canada-Russia 7:30 pm
Czech Republic-Finland 10:00 pm
Slovakia-Sweden 11:55 pm
- Andrew Bogusch boguschhockey@gmail.com
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