Olympics Update – Men’s Hockey Quarterfinals

Maybe it was the fact that they lost to the fifth-seeded U.S. team in the first round. Maybe it came from playing in their home country, with over 17,000 people watching. Whatever the motivation, the Canadian men’s hockey team came out swinging last night, and beat the Russians in the quarterfinals 7-3.

The first period was a blistering attack on Russian goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Canadian Ryan Getzlaf was the first to score in the game, followed by back-to-back goals from Dan Boyle and Rick Nash, opening up the game with a three to nothing run.

The Russians would never recover from that deficit, and superstar Alex Ovechkin was effectively taken out of the game by the Canadian defense keeping him up against the boards for much of the game. A frustrated Ovechkin broke three sticks through the first two periods of play.

Russian goalie Ilya Bryzgalov summed up the game nicely by saying that the Canadian team “came out like gorillas out of a cage.”

The other games of the quarterfinal round were less thrilling, but still showed impressive talent to move the winning teams on to the semifinals. The United States shutout Switzerland 2-0, with a pair of goals in the third period from Zach Parise. Finland topped Czech Republic with a score of 2-0 as well, and Slovakia beat Sweden with a score of 4-3.

This sets up a semifinal round for Canada to play Slovakia, and the United States to play Finland. The winners of each of the games will face each other in the finals for the gold medal.

The U.S.-Finland game will be a rematch of a feud between the two teams. At the 2006 winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Finland earned the silver medal after defeating the Americans 4-3 in the quarterfinal round. This is the game in which U.S. forward David Backes and Finnish defensemen Anssi Salmela got into a brawl at the buzzer, with Salmela’s face by smashed by Backes.

The Canadians in last night’s game had a similar revenge match with the Russians. Russia knocked Canada out of the 2006 Olympic tournament in the quarterfinal round. Canada finished in seventh place that year, a dismal position for a team that is generally a favorite for a medal.

Semifinal games will take place on Friday, February 26. The U.S.-Finland game is scheduled for 12:00pm PST, and the Canada-Slovakia game is scheduled for 6:30pm PST. Both games should prove to be excellent hockey, with a lot at stake for the competitors.

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