After the 7-3 drubbing of Russia on Wednesday and the American's 6-1 destruction of Finland this afternoon, you might have excused Canadian fans for looking ahead to Sunday a tad premature. It wasn't quite "gorillas out of a cage," but tonight Canada booked its place in Sunday's gold medal game with a 3-2 semifinal win over Slovakia.
The Canadians jumped to a 2-0 first period lead, on goals by Patrick Marleau and Brendan Morrow. Ryan Getzlaf made it 3-0 with three minutes left in the second.
By midway through the third, the crowd was confidently chanting, "We want the USA!"
But just as Canadian fans may have been thinking "foregone conclusion," Lubomir Visnovsky put the Slovaks on the board at 8:25, then Michal Handzus added another at 4:53, bringing the game to within a goal and creating the first real tension of the game. The Slovaks, energized, continued to press hard right down to forcing a game-saving stop by Roberto Luongo in the final seconds.
Next up, USA. For the gold.
More to come.
CANADA is great!
Well done Fellows. It was a tough game, and you came up to the top.
I am proud to be a Canadian.
Now we must grab the GOLD.
Posted by: Sheikh | Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 12:08 AM
They will have to be much better on Sunday to win gold.If they come out with the intensity they did against Russia they will win - that was an awesome display of how hockey is supposed to be played, and there's no team here that can match that. But if they show up with the lack of intensity they did last night, or the first game against the U'alls, they will not win. So the only question is, which team will show up??
Does go to show you the effect a bad goal can have on deflating a team and turning the momentum. Luongo HAS to have that first one.
Do not read too much into the U'alls 6-1 win over Finland...after Kipper let in an embarassing goal to start the game the Finns basically rolled over. If Sweden hadn't all come down with the flu before the previous game Finland wouldn't have even been there.
Posted by: Tyroneshoes | Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 10:07 AM
Go Canada
Hope you play against USA like you played against Russia...
Last night you didn't have as much heart into it. It was still a great game and Canada is going for the Gold.
We are all very Proud of the whole team.
Posted by: Corby | Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 01:05 PM