Team Canada remained undefeated and clinched the top seed in Group A by beating the United States 4-1 in their final game of the round-robin portion of the tournament. Patrick Roy was incredible in net for Canada, stopping 31 of 32 shots. He was absolutely unbeatable through the first two periods, despite the United States producing a string of top notch scoring chances. Brett Hull eventually spoiled Roy's shutout bid at 14:04 of the third period, but it was far too little, too late. The Canadian offense was provided by Rob Zamuner, Joe Sakic, and Keith Primeau, who bagged a pair.

The 4-1 score is pretty misleading. The game was much closer. In fact, Team USA played their best game of the tournament. Roy was the difference. The United States had a ton of chances, but just couldn't solve the three-time Stanley Cup winner.

The game hinged on two moments in particular. The first came at 14:16 of the first period. With Joe Sakic already in the box for slashing Gary Suter, Rob Zamuner got called for pulling down Doug Weight. The US would have a minute and 40 seconds to work with a two-man advantage. And the Americans were fresh off scoring two five-on-three goals against Belarus. It didn't look good for the Maple Leaf.

USA Coach Ron Wilson sent out Weight, Brett Hull, John LeClair, Brian Leetch, and Chris Chelios to work the power play. Canada Coach Marc Crawford countered with Steve Yzerman, Ray Bourque, and Rob Blake.

The US controlled the faceoff and Chelios tested Roy with a blast from the right point. Then it was open season for Hull. The Golden One tore off three straight cannons. The first was taken from the high slot and was stopped by Roy. The second hit traffic in front. And the third, a one-timer from the left circle, smacked the right goal post. Leetch took his turn. Save. Hull would launch two more shots wide. Chelios teed another from the point. Save. Leetch pinched low into the left circle and wound up. Save Roy.

The puck was only cleared once during the two-man. The US kept the same weapons and didn't change, but Canada used the opportunity to send out Trevor Linden, Chris Pronger, and Adam Foote. When Sakic emerged from the box, the decidedly pro-Canada crowd roared with approval. The noise got even louder when Zamuner found freedom.

Killing off the penalties would have been a big enough emotional lift, but Canada wasn't done. As Zamuner hopped free, Sakic was lugging the puck through center. The Colorado captain then proceeded to bust out the funk. He motored into the American zone on the left wing side and cut laterally through the high slot towards the right wing. With Kevin Hatcher back to watch Zamuner driving to the net, Suter tried to step up and pressure Sakic, but Joe freaked the defender by slamming on the breaks and pulling the puck under his stick on the backhand. Mike Modano then immediately swooped in to try and help out and Sakic, who was standing still, greeted him with more magical stick work. Forehand, backhand, danger averted. But even more remarkable than the stickhandling was the rink awareness. For in the very same motion that Sakic pulled the puck around Modano, he pushed a backhand pass into the now wide open slot for a late charging Wayne Gretzky.

The feed from Sakic was beautiful. Gretzky didn't even have to break stride. He loaded up for the big slapper to freeze Hatcher and Mike Richter, and then made a gorgeous diagonal pass to Zamuner all alone at the right side of the crease. A tap in later and it was 1-0 Canada.

The goal was enormous. It looked for all the world that the US would get the first goal. But thanks to Roy's goaltending and the creativity of Sakic and Gretzky, the Canadians turned the table. Wasting a five-on-three is terrible, but then giving up a goal right after it expires really blows.

The second period opened with more goaltending brilliance from Roy. John LeClair powered his way out of the right wing corner and found Hull all alone at the top of the left circle with a cross-ice pass. Hull lit a heavy one-timer only to have Roy come across in flawless butterfly position and close the five-hole. Next were a couple saves at the expense of Pat LaFontaine in tight. Then Modano's number came up. The Dallas sniper one- timed a Keith Tkachuk pass in the slot and watched it deflect off Roy's left shoulder. Seconds later the puck was worked in front and Roy denied a few hacks from Tkachuk.

The goaltending cavalcade continued when LeClair spun into an opening in the left wing circle and fired a low wrist shot as he was falling to the ice. Roy turned it aside with a kick of his left pad. Hull would have had a chance at the rebound but Zamuner tackled him to the ice. That left the puck free at the right post for Weight, who circled out from behind the cage with Roy still down from the initial save. Never fear. Even though he was down and out, Roy reached up and denied Weight's bid for glory with his gloves.

While they didn't get a goal on the sequence, the Americans did gain another power play courtesy of Zamuner rubbing out Hull. The penalty came at 13:25 of the middle frame. Now pay attention, because this would be the aforementioned second moment on which the game hinged.

Immediately following the faceoff, the Canadians tried to clear the puck up the right wing boards. Leetch lunged into the boards to try and cut it only to have the puck hit his shin pad and skip out of the zone. Yzerman was quick to pick it up and went the other way one-on-one against Kevin Hatcher. Stevie Y skated to the right circle in the Canadian zone before trying to pull the puck through Hatcher's skates. The puck got through, but Hatcher got enough of Yzerman to ruin the move. But he didn't get enough to stop him completely. With the puck now sliding to the cage, Yzerman stumbled past Hatcher and in a desperate attempt to reach the puck lost his balance and crashed into Richter. This allowed Primeau to charge in late and muscle his way past Leetch and Hatcher to slam the puck home for the short-handed goal and a 2-0 Canada lead.

Despite furious protests from Richter and coach Wilson, referee Bill McCreary allowed the goal to stand. And quite honestly, it was a brutal call. Richter had no chance on the play. McCreary's lone argument would be that Hatcher pushed Yzerman in, but that just wasn't the case. And even if it was, Stevie didn't attempt to avoid contact. He even delivered a bit of a cross check in order to protect himself. There's no way this goal should have counted. But it did. Hey, life ain't no boat ride.

Allowing a short-handed goal is devastating. Getting screwed by the ref on a short-handed goal that should have never counted is like getting beaten to the ground and having "mucus" written on your forehead.

Canada would increase its lead to 3-0 at 18:19 of the second. Primeau blocked a shot and worked the puck to Sakic who was flying up the middle. Joe countered on a two-on-two with Theo Fleury against Kevin Hatcher and Mathieu Schneider. Sakic carried the puck straight into the American zone and patiently waited for the defense to make its move. Unfortunately for the Americans, Schneider didn't display the same patience or, more importantly, intelligence.

Schneider seemed fearful of Sakic splitting him and his partner, so he bolted towards Joe even though Hatcher had him marked. Having drawn both defensemen towards him, Sakic dished a sweet pass to Fleury on the right wing. Both defensemen recognized they'd been had. Hatcher tried to make up for Schneider's error and went towards Fleury. Schneider wanted to make up for his own mistake and likewise left Sakic for Fleury. That meant that when Theo's slap shot skipped off Richter's right shoulder and landed in the crease, no one was within 20 feet of Sakic. Hard to get happy after that one. Canada went into the second intermission leading 3-0.

Another breakdown in coverage would allow the Canadians to run the score to 4-0 six minutes into the third period. Sakic started things by hitting Recchi with a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone. Recchi carried the puck in on right wing with Primeau driving hard on the left side and Sakic trailing down the middle. The Americans had Suter, Bryan Berard, and Joel Otto back, so it didn't look like anything would happen. But as Recchi slowly glided down the right wing wall, Berard and Otto both looked towards Sakic while turning a blind eye to Primeau. Big mistake. Recchi feathered a swell diagonal lead pass through the slot to Primeau back door and Canada had a four-goal lead.

Roy finally yielded a goal at 14:04 when some hard work by LeClair and Weight won a puck in the left wing corner. Weight found Hull buck naked at the inside edge of the left circle. Roy went down butterfly and Joey Nieuwendyk dove on his stomach to try and block the shot, but Hull just waited. He casually made his way left to right through the slot and waited, not only for Roy to get out of position but also for Nieuwendyk's stick to get out of the way. He finally pulled the trigger when he was at the bottom of the right circle, piping a shot high short-side over Roy's outstretched glove. It was a beauty of a goal, but small consolation on an otherwise disappointing night.

Overall, the Americans did play their best game to date. For the first time since the opening minutes against Sweden, the star- spangled squad actually showed some intensity and spirit. They just didn't capitalize on their opportunities. If they had scored on that early five-on-three, things may have turned out differently. Getting jobbed by the ref on the second goal certainly didn't help matters. But at the same time one can't overlook the numerous glaring mistakes in coverage. Really, all four goals were the result of mishaps on defense. There was just too much running around after the puck and not enough smart positional play. A club can't afford such silliness and hope to claim the gold.

Meanwhile, the Canadians looked solid, but hardly invincible. They gave up far too many quality chances. If not for Roy, they could have found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-4 score. But then again, that's the luxury of having Roy. Might as well take advantage of him.

As mentioned at the start, the win clinched the top spot in Group A for Canada. They will face Kazakhstan, the fourth seed in Group B, in the next round, which is single elimination. The loss means that Team USA will have to face the Czech Republic.

Impressive Performances

CANADA

Patrick Roy (31 saves): Enough can't be said about Roy. He was amazing. It was an honor to watch him work.

Joe Sakic (1-2-3): This game was vintage Joe Sakic. He had that trademark hop in his step all evening. And no one can break down a defense like Sakic. He has tremendous patience with the puck and reads plays two and three steps ahead of the pack. If this was grade school and Joe was, like, in the third grade, he'd take one of them standardized tests from Iowa and the results would say that he reads at a high school level. Sometimes it seems like Sakic's got all the vision and the rest of the world is wearing bifocals.

Keith Primeau (2-0-2): When Primeau is inspired, he can be an impact player. The fire was burning on this night. Primeau was a force. If this was the NHL, Primeau would have had an assist to go with his two goals. The Olympic scorers aren't quite as liberal as the ones back in North America and didn't give him a helper on Sakic's goal since the play went Primeau- Sakic-Fleury-Sakic. But who's counting?

UNITED STATES

Brett Hull (1-0-1): Watching Hull repeatedly drop the hammer on the five-on-three was a sight to behold. He launched five shots in all. One was stopped by Roy, one was blocked, one drew iron, and two sailed high. The results may not have been all that great, but the display itself was a gem. His goal was also bad as hell.

John LeClair: LeClair was a bull in the corners and behind the net. The Canadian defensemen had a miserable time trying to contain him. And that's saying a mouthful considering the defensemen in question.

Pat LaFontaine: Laffy was a consistent source of offense, especially in the first period. He created a few chances in tight that would have likely wound up in the net on other nights when the goaltender's name wasn't Roy.

Lines

Canada: Trevor Linden was the extra forward. He was a regular on the penalty kill, but only took the occasional shift at even-strength. When he did, he skated with Joe Sakic and Keith Primeau.

On defense, the pair of Ray Bourque and Rob Blake stayed together the whole game. The other two sets saw Eric Desjardins worked in on a regular rotation.

OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)

Brind'Amour - Lindros - Corson
Shanahan - Gretzky - Yzerman
Primeau - Sakic - Recchi
Zamuner - Nieuwendyk - Fleury
Linden

DEFENSE

Bourque - Blake
Pronger - Foote
Stevens - MacInnis
Desjardins

POWER PLAY

Shanahan - Nieuwendyk - Gretzky - Sakic - MacInnis
Fleury - Lindros - Recchi - Bourque - Blake

SHORT-HANDED

Zamuner - Yzerman - Bourque - Blake
Primeau - Linden - Pronger - Foote

United States: They used the same lines from the Belarus game. Bryan Berard and Keith Carney didn't see the ice until the third period. Well, Berard did finish off one power play in the second period, but that was it. They both got regular time in the third when Wilson started to rest his regulars, but they didn't skate as a pair or anything.

OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)

Guerin - Roenick - Deadmarsh
Tkachuk - Modano - Amonte
LeClair - Weight - Hull
Langenbrunner - LaFontaine - Otto

DEFENSE

Leetch - D. Hatcher
Suter - Chelios
Schneider - K. Hatcher
Berard, Carney

POWER PLAY

Tkachuk - LaFontaine - Modano - Leetch - K. Hatcher
LeClair - Weight - Hull - Suter - Chelios

SHORT-HANDED

LaFontaine - Otto - Leetch - D. Hatcher
Weight - Hull - Suter - Chelios

Other Scores

Finland beat Kazakhstan, 8-2: Team Finland won its first game of the tournament and clinched the third seed in Group B by pounding Kazakhstan, 8-2. Teemu Selanne led the way with a goal and two assists. Finland will now move on to play Sweden in the next round. Wake the kids and call the neighbors.

Russia beat Czech Republic, 2-1: Valeri Bure and Alexei Zhamnov scored 10 seconds apart early in the third period to erase a 1-0 deficit and lift Russia to victory. The win clinched the top spot in Group B for the Russians, who finished the round robin a perfect 3-0-0. They'll now advance to play Belarus, the fourth seed in Group A.

Sweden beat Belarus, 5-2: Sweden secured its date with Finland by banging Belarus. The Swedish goals were scored by Mikael Andersson, Ulf Dahlen, Niklas Sundstrom, Mats Sundin, and Mikael Renberg.

[ issues | web extra | stats | nhl archive | home | chat | mailing list | about us | search | comments ]

1998 © Copyright LCS Hockey All Rights Reserved