Print

Mail

wiki links

Swiss can play hockey

Canadian Martin Brodeur fails to stop the second goal by Paul di Pietro of Switzerland during the men's preliminary round at the Torino Esposizioni in Turin, Italy. Switzerland defeated Canada 2-0. PHOTO: AFP

First, the Swiss stunned the world champion Czechs.

They topped that Saturday, embarrassing defending men's Olympic gold medalist Canada 2-0 -- the latest upset in only three days of men's hockey.

Canadian-born Paul DiPietro scored twice in the Group A game. Canada is 2-1 and still must face its toughest group opponents -- Finland and Czech Republic. The lower Canada finishes in the group, the tougher its quarterfinal matchup may be.

Swiss forward Flavien Conne said any notion beforehand of beating both Canada and the Czechs seemed absurd.

"Are you crazy, man?" he said. "With the players they have, it would be impossible."

Defenseman Mark Streit, who plays for the Montreal Canadiens, said the victory rated above Thursday's 3-2 upset of the Czechs. He called that one "a miracle."

"We had another unbelievable game, actually a perfect game," he said.

The Swiss have only two men's Olympic hockey medals -- bronzes in 1928 and 1948. Now they have only Germany and Italy to play and a chance to top the group.

Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt skis to the gold medal during the Men's Super-G in Sestriere Borgata, Italy, Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Finland and Slovakia have the only unblemished records.

Finland defeated the Czech Republic 4-2 to top Group A, and Germany rallied to draw 3-3 with Italy -- a result likely to eliminate both from reaching the quarterfinals.

In Group B, Slovakia defeated the US 2-1, Sweden overwhelmed Latvia 6-1, and Russia edged Kazakhstan 1-0. The top four in each group reach the quarterfinals.

Former NHLer DiPietro did the scoring and goalie Martin Gerber turned aside 49 shots for the Swiss. They have a Canadian coach -- Ralph Krueger -- and were cheered by hundreds of arena-rocking fans.

Croatia's Janica Kostelic, center, smiles after winning the gold medal in the women's downhill combined in San Sicario, Italy, Saturday. Kostelic won ahead of second placed Austrian Marlies Schild, left, and third placed Anja Paerson of Sweden. PHOTO: EPA

The Swiss took the lead at 18:19 of the first, DiPietro beating Martin Brodeur off a feed from Patric Della Rossa. He made it 2-0 at 8:47 of the second, taking advantage when Canada was two men short.

"We tried to rely on talent and it wasn't good enough," Canada coach Pat Quinn said. "And if we don't learn from that, we will be going home early."

Marcel Goc scored with 1:17 left, beating Jason Muzzatti on a deflection, to rally Germany to a 3-3 tie and ruin Italy's hopes of an emotional victory.

"Ah, it was crushing," Muzzatti said. "We were on the way to winning, I thought we deserved to win."

Christian Borgatello thrilled the loud, flag-waving crowd by scoring a go-ahead goal with 1:32 left, but Goc answered 15 seconds later for the tie. Those teams remain at the bottom of Group A with two losses and a tie.

"It's like a roller coaster," said Tony Iob, who scored Italy's second goal. "You're high and then you come right down low."

Jere Lehtinen scored twice for the Finns with two for the Czech's Marek Zidlicky.

Czech Jaromir Jagr, the NHL's leading scorer, left the ice in the second period with blood pouring out of a cut on his forehead after being rammed into the boards by Finland's Jarkko Ruutu. Jagr was wobbly as he was assisted to the Czech locker room and didn't return.

The Czechs were given the best chance of taking gold from Canada. Now the two are struggling for quarterfinal spots.

Slovakia made it tougher for the US to reach the quarterfinals.

Marian Hossa gave Slovakia a 1-0 lead on a power play at 14:20 of the second, with Brian Rolston answering for the US four minutes later on its own power play. Peter Bondra, a teammate of Hossa on the Atlanta Thrashers, scored the even-strength winner at 1:48 of the third.

Forsberg set up two goals, helping Sweden rebound from a shutout loss -- 5-0 to Russia -- with an easy 6-1 victory over Latvia.

Forsberg assisted on Sweden's first and fourth goals, which were scored by Samuel Pahlsson and P.J. Axelsson. Daniel Alfredsson scored twice, and Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg also scored as the Swedes (2-1) solidified their chances of reaching the quarterfinals.

"Pretty good for not playing for 3 1-2 weeks," Forsberg said with a smile.

Russia goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who was born in Kazakhstan but grew up in Russia, recorded his second straight shutout as Russia improved to 2-1 in Group B. Kazakhstan is 0-3.

ROUNDUP

Shani Davis created Winter Games history on Saturday before the specter of doping again hit the Olympics.

Davis became the first black to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics, combining with Joey Cheek in an American one-two finish Saturday in the 1,000m speedskating final.

Soon after Davis completed his victory, Italian authorities raided the residences of Austrian biathlon and cross-country staff in the Alps looking for banned substances and the IOC sanctioned random drug tests on "a number of Austrian cross-country and biathlon athletes."

Alfred Eder, a trainer for the Austrian biathlon team, said more than a dozen police searched and interviewed athletes for four hours. "We are very angry," Eder said. "It is not very gentlemanly."

Police made no comment following the raids, which ended early yesterday.

It was a day of firsts in the Alps, with Kjetil Andre Aamodt becoming the first man to win the same Alpine event at three Olympics, and Janica Kostelic becoming the first woman to win four Olympic Alpine gold medals.

It started with Aamodt and Kostelic both hurting and being forced to wait as snow flurries covered the Italian Alps.

When the sun came out, Aamodt beat Hermann Maier to defend his super-G title and Kostelic won the women's combined after the downhill portion of the race had been postponed from Friday.

It was the 34-year-old Aamodt's third Olympic super-G title -- the Norwegian also won in 1992 at Albertville and four years ago in Salt Lake City. He stretched his record Olympic Alpine medal tally to eight.

Aamodt was competing injured, after hurting his knee finishing fourth in last Sunday's downhill and being unable to defend his Olympic combined title on Tuesday.

"It's an amazing feeling," Aamodt said. "I've always been a sportsman fighting. I've been fortunate on all of the big events to be on the podium several times."

Kostelic said Friday night she might not ski the downhill leg of the combined because she was feeling ill. She still wasn't 100 percent Saturday.

"I was shaking at the beginning," she said. "It felt like a long time to the finish line."

Slalom specialist Marlies Schild, leader overnight, was second and Sweden's Anja Paerson was third.

"It's always nice to know that," Kostalic said of her record. "But records are to be beaten, so someone else will win five."

The Alpine races came on the busiest day so far in the Olympics with nine medals on the line.

At the Lingotto Oval, Davis clocked 1 minute, 8.89 seconds -- and was the only skater to break 1:09 for the 1,000m.

"It showed that all the hard work and all the sacrifice paid off," Davis said.

Cheek came closest to beating him, finishing in 1:09.16 seconds.

The two medals took the US gold haul to seven for the games, ahead of Germany and Russia with six golds each. Norway had the most medals overall with 16.

In short track, South Korean speedskaters won gold-silver doubles in the men's 1,000m- and women's 1,500m races.

Ahn Hyun-soo won his second men's title of the games and Jin Sun-yu won the women's 1,500m.

Austria boosted its tally to four gold with Thomas Morgenstern winning the large hill ski jumping and teammate Andreas Koflertaking silver.

While snow caused delays in the Alpine events, cross-country and biathlon racers had to compete in it.

Russia won the women's 4x5km cross-country relay.

Kati Wilhelm of Germany won the women's 10km biathlon pursuit in 36:43.6 -- 1:13.6 ahead of teammate Martina Glagow.

France's Vincent Defrasne won the men's 12.5km biathlon pursuit, speeding past veteran Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen in the final straight.

Despite a dozen suspensions in cross country for athletes showing high levels of hemoglobin, the Turin Games had only netted one positive drug case -- Russia's biathlon star Olga Pyleva was stripped of a silver medal and expelled Thursday after testing positive for the stimulant carphedon.

The Saturday night raids raised the possibility of further problems.

The police raids were sparked by a World Anti-Doping Agency discovery of blood-doping equipment in Austria that was connected to Walter Mayer, WADA chairman Richard Pound told AP.

Mayer is the Austrian Nordic team coach who was banned by the IOC following a blood-doping case at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
This story has been viewed 2906 times.