OH CANADA!!

Canada salutes their fans after a 7-3 drubbing of the Russian Federation.

(Bruce Bennett, Getty Images)

By Chris Carrano

CANADA TROUNCES RUSSIA, ADVANCES TO SEMIS

It was one of the most widely anticipated matchups of these Olympic Games so far. A contest that many (myself included) predicted would decide the gold medal, not determine who would advance to the semis. Canada squared off against their hockey nemesis Russia, in front of 19,100 of their own fans, on their own soil. Throw into the mix, another Sidney Crosby vs. Alexander Ovechkin battle, and you have a game for the ages. However, much like last years game seven showdown between the two NHL superstars, this game wasn’t all it was hyped up to be, unless, that is, you were one of the fans rocking the red at Canada Hockey Place last night.

The mighty Russians, who have owned the Canadians in international play, came in to the game with all the swagger and confidence one would expect from a team that has proficient scorers such as Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk. The only thing mighty about the Russians tonight, was their fall from grace. Ryan Getzlaf put the Canadians on the board just 2:21 into the game and Rick Nash and Dan Boyle scored 46 seconds apart to put Canada ahead 3-0 by the time the first period was a little more than half over.

"You wouldn't expect a start like that, but that's the way we wanted to come out, just flying," Nash said. "We finally started to bury our good chances. That was the difference."

Roberto Luongo, the Vancouver Canucks goalie who plays his home games at Canada Hockey Place (the name was changed from GM Place for the Olympics), made 25 saves and allowed 3 goals, after staring in place of Canada’s hero, Martin Brodeur. Meanwhile, Canada out shot the Russians 42-28 for the game and 21-12 in the first period. Russian goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who plays with the San Jose Sharks, cemented his role as a big game choke artist as he was pulled in favor of Ilya Brzygalov after allowing four goals in the first period.

"I think how we start the game it's like small kids and big kids play against each other and big kids dominate," Ovechkin said. "They got the puck deep, used their power and they scored goals."

As amazing as it is that Canada unleashed their fury with such ease on the world’s number one ranking team, neither Ovechkin nor Crosby made it to the box score in a game that featured ten goals. Even more demoralizing for Ovechkin, along with Malkin and teammate Alexander Semin, is that all three were on the ice when Rick Nash and Shea Weber scored goals. Canadian coach Mike Babcock tinkered with his lines and used Jonathan Toews to center Mike Richards and Rick Nash while adding Scott Niedermayer and Weber to round out his defensive pair. The quintet shut down the Russian superstars, who each finished with a –2 rating, making them look as inconsistent as the New York Rangers have at times.

"That's the stuff you dream about as a kid, playing in those big situations against the best players in the world," added Weber. "It's not an easy task by any means, but I thought we did a good job as a team."

Canada’s next game is on Friday night against Slovakia, a team that upset the defending champion Swedes.

US EDGES SWISS, BARELY

If Brian Burke wasn’t happy with the way his United States team performed in a 5-3 win over Canada, then he must have been seething after watching his team barely beat the Swiss. Team USA squeaked out a 2-0 win over Switzerland yesterday afternoon, thanks to Zach Parise and another big empty-net goal.

Jonas Hiller played so well, it’s a shame he had to lose. He stopped 42 shots and never wilted under the pressure of the US attack. Zach Parise was finally able to slip one past the near perfect Hiller. He managed to get the tip of his stick on a slap shot from defenseman Brian Rafalski and sent it scrambling over the Hiller’s glove before nestling just inside the goal at 2:08 of the final period, giving the United States a 1-0 lead. That lead would’ve been 2-0 had Ryan Kesler’s goal counted at the end of the second period. After a video review, it was determined that the puck crossed the goal line a split second after the clock hit zero.

"Hillsy did an amazing job," said Swiss defenseman Luca Sbisa. "Without him, we wouldn't be this far in the tournament. He made unbelievable saves. We are so proud of him."

The Swiss came right back however with a fierce attack of their own. Sandy Jeanin shook off his defender and then forced US goalie Ryan Miller to commit before sliding a shot past the goalie that appeared to have crossed the goal line before bouncing back out, as described by NHL.com.

“I thought it was in on the bench," said Wilson, "because there was no sound.” Shortly thereafter, it looked as if the United State scored again on a shot by Ryan Suter, but the goal was disallowed when Ryan Kesler committed a high-sticking penalty in front of the net.

Parise then added his empty net goal at 18:48 of the third period to ice the game and give the Americans a sigh of relief. "A great performance from Zach Parise today," said Coach Wilson. "I thought he was our best player and in games like this your best players rise to the occasion and you saw that today."

Swiss coach Ralph Krueger added, "We would have needed a miracle to win today. The Americans, in the end, were the better team."

Next up for the Americans in the semifinals is Finland, the silver medalists from the 2006 Winter Games in Torino.

HATS OFF TO FINLAND! (LITERALLY)

After a scoreless game for 53 and a half minutes, Team Finland capitalized on a golden opportunity, with a little help from lady luck. Niklas Hagman scored the game winner in Finland’s 2-0 defeat of the Czech Republic.

It was the hockey equivalent of a pitcher’s duel which saw Finnish goalie Miikka Kiprusoff make 31 saves for the victory over his Czech counterpart Tomas Vokoun, who made 29. Finland’s lucky break came when Czech defenseman Pavel Kubina lost his helmet and had to go behind the net to retrieve it. That gave Hagman some room to work with and he redirected Janne Niskala's slap shot through a tiny space under Vokoun's legs, for the game’s first goal with 6:26 left to play in regulation, as described by NHL.com.

"It was an unfortunate break, but that's hockey," Vokoun said. "Not many pretty goals are scored here any more. It's always going to be something like that."

International rules state that any player who loses his helmet must track it down or get off the ice immediately.

“It was good for us he lost his helmet, but it's a stupid rule," Hagman said. "I know they want to keep it safe, (but) if you lose a helmet, you should let the guy play. I don't know what they're thinking, but that's the rules and you have to play with them."

Valtteri Filppula scored an empty-net goal to put the game away with 1:35 left to play to seal the win and move Finland into the semi-finals against the United States.

SWEDE SURRENDER: SLOVAKIA UPSETS SWEDEN FOR SEMIFINAL BERTH

There will be no repeat of their gold medal performance of 2006 for Team Sweden this year. The Slovaks pulled out the upset, defeating Sweden 4-3 last night, for what could be considered their biggest win in their short history.

"It's the biggest achievement so far in the short history of Slovak Republic," Slovak forward Miroslav Satan said. "We definitely going to enjoy it for a while and then focus on the next game."

Sweden goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had not allowed a goal in Vancouver thus far, but he let three straight get by him in the second period. His New York Rangers teammate, Marian Gaborik, and Slovak Andrej Sekera broke open the scoring with goals just 37 seconds apart. Sweden answered that by scoring two goals of their own, also 37 seconds apart, from Patric Hornqvist and Henrik Zetterberg.

Nicklas Lidstrom, who scored the winning goal for Sweden in the gold medal game at the Torino Olympics, had his last shot stopped by Jaroslav Halak as time expired.

Halak made 26 saves for Slovakia, who advance to the semi-finals to take on a surging Canadian team. "It's tough the way we lost," said Swedish veteran Peter Forsberg, who is playing in his final Olympics. "This is not the way we wanted it to end."

Information and quotes from NHL.com and NBCOlympics.com were used in this story.

TONIGHT

WOMENS MEDAL GAMES

Finland vs. Sweden, 2 p.m. EST Bronze Medal Game
Canada vs. USA, 6:30 p.m. EST Gold Medal Game

FRIDAY NIGHT

USA vs. Finland, 3 p.m. EST, Semifinal #1
Canada vs. Slovakia, 9:30 p.m. EST, Semifinal #2

FINAL STANDINGS (as of 2/25/10)

1 TBD
2 TBD
3 TBD
4 TBD
5 Sweden
6 Russian Federation
7 Czech Republic
8 Switzerland
9 Belarus
10 Norway
11 Germany
12 Latvia