Canada fell 5-3 to the US in a men’s Olympic ice hockey grudge game on Sunday, silencing a fanatical home crowd and sending a shudder rumbling across the host country as gold medal hopes took a hit.
While the Americans moved directly to the quarter-finals, Canada will now have to take the long road to the gold medal final and play a sudden death qualification game today to earn a place in the last eight.
After Canada failed to add to their Vancouver Games gold medal total on the second weekend of Olympic competition, the hockey-crazed nation turned to its men’s hockey team for a lift.
PHOTO: AFP
The young Americans turned Olympic Super Sunday into Somber Sunday for Canada, however, jumping out to 1-0 lead after just 41 seconds then grimly hanging on until the final buzzer to secure the top spot in Group A and cross-border bragging rights.
“We’re just like every team in the tournament now and we’re all trying to survive because if you lose you go home,” Canada coach Mike Babcock told reporters. “We understand what we’re up against and we’ll just start preparing for the next game.”
Brilliant blue skies and spring-like conditions made it a perfect day to be outside soaking up the Games atmosphere, but the place to be was inside Canada Hockey Place for a spectacular ice hockey hat-trick featuring the world’s six top-ranked teams in rematches of the last three Olympic finals.
PHOTO: AFP
The hockey feast began early with Russia beating the Czech Republic 4-2 in a replay of their 1998 Nagano Winter Games final, but the day’s hottest ticket was for the afternoon clash between the US and Canada.
The contest was seen as the first serious test for both teams and the electric atmosphere inside the packed arena underscored the magnitude of the cross-border rivalry.
“That was some of the most intense hockey I have ever played,” US netminder Ryan Miller said. “It was probably one of the biggest games I have ever played in, hopefully it provides the confidence we need moving forward.”
Miller was key to the US win as Canada dominated large chunks of the contest, completely outshooting the Americans 45-23, but could not capitalize on enough of their scoring chances.
The US took some of the steam out of the party when Brian Rafalski scored just 41 seconds after the faceoff, blasting a shot past unsteady Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur, who did not look like the NHL’s all-time leader in wins and shutouts. Eric Staal answered for Canada, but Rafalski once again played the role of party pooper, scoring 22 seconds later to send the Americans into the first intermission leading 2-1.
Canada dominated the second period and got back on level terms when Dany Heatley slammed home a rebound, but the US regained the lead with just over three minutes to play when Chris Drury scored from a goalmouth scramble.
A power-play goal from Jamie Langenbrunner early in the third put the Americans up 4-2 and silenced the boisterous crowd until Sidney Crosby brought the arena back, redirecting a feed from Rick Nash to cut the US advantage to 4-3 and set up a furious finish.
Canada poured into the zone, blasting away at Miller, but couldn’t crack the American netminder and at the death Ryan Kesler fired into an open net to seal a dramatic win.
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