Olympic Round Up – Canada March On
Four playoff games no surprises. Unless you count Team Switzerland?! no. nor did I.
Anyway, Team Swizterland are now of interest to all American fans thanks to their narrow 3-2 shootout win over Belarus. The US team will know the Swiss well and thanks to their great game against Canada, USA wont underestimate them. You have to expect USA advancing to a medal game… so far so great for Team USA.
The Czech Republic advanced thanks to a 3-2 victory over Latvia that was alot closer than most would expect. Having taken a 2-0 lead pretty quickly off goals from Tomas Fleischmann and Tomas Rolinek the plucky Latvians tied the game late in the third. Only thanks to an overtime goal from Boston Bruin David Krejci did the veteran ladden Czechs move on. Great performance from the Latvians who can hold their heads up with pride. Former Ranger Jaromir Jagr only played 6 minutes in this one – the after affects of AO’s hit? The Czechs next go up agains the Fins in the quarters.
Slovakia moved into the quarters thanks to a narrow 4-3 win over Norway. Rangers sniper Marian Gaborik was back to his scoring self getting 1+1 and 9 shots off in 16 minutes of ice time. I’d say his leg is no longer an issue. Another game where the favourite couldnt shake off their lesser opponent though. Slovakia had a 3-1 lead before Norway got back to 3-3 before Miroslav Satan scored middway in the 3rd to win it. Next up will be a game of huge interest for Rangers as Gaborik and Slovakia take on the impressive Swedes in the quarters. A very intriguing game…
Canada won, as expected, 8-2 over the Germans last night. Joe Thornton, Shea Weber and Jarome Iginla (2) got Canada off to a great start before Marcel Goc got one back for the Germans. After that Crosby, Mike Richards, Scott Niedermayer and Rick Nash finished Canada’s scoring before the Germans got another to make it more respectable.
Despite the score, Canada will still not be in best of spirits thanks to their next opponent. Russia. A huge game for the quarterfinal stage, one big favourite is going home. If Russia win, watch the media onslaught in Canada begin….
Finally an observation. How many blow outs have there really been in this event? International hockey is alot closer than it used to be. The NHL is effected by this and is more international and diverse than ever. Could this international parity (of sorts) help answer the fact that no team has won back to back Cups since the Detroit Red Wings???? Must have an impact, no? Over at nasports.co.uk we look at the shrinking gap in hockey and offer a group stage review of the Olympics. I think Rangers fans will be interested as we choose our players of the group stages.
