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CANADA DOWNS GERMANS 8-2 TO ADVANCE TO NERVY HOCKEY QUARTER-FINAL AGAINST RUSSIA
VANCOUVER – Team Canada cruised past Germany but a much tougher must-win game awaits Wednesday at the
Vancouver Olympics.
Jarome Iginla had two goals and Roberto Luongo picked up the easy win in his first action since he was
tabbed as the starting goaltender as Canada thumped the Germans 8-2 in an elimination game Tuesday.
Canada will now face Russia and its array of scoring stars in the quarter-finals.
“They're a great team, but so are we,” said Canada's Shea Weber, who scored against the Germans.
The Russians eliminated Canada from the 2006 Games in Turin with a 2-0 victory in the quarter-finals, but
this time the game is on Canadian ice at Canada Hockey Place.
“It's going to be intense,” said Canadian star Sidney Crosby. “We've got a tough game tomorrow. That's a
big rivalry, we all know it.”
Crosby missed on a penalty shot but scored a third-period goal, while Eric Staal responded to being put on
the top line with Crosby and Iginla with three assists. Weber, Joe Thornton, Mike Richards, Scott Niedermayer
and Rick Nash also scored.
Marcel Goc and Manuel Klinge replied for Germany, which was eliminated from the Olympics.
Luongo, who shut out Norway in Canada's opening game, took over as the starter from struggling veteran
Martin Brodeur.
“It's a big stage. The nerves are there but I think it's a good thing,” Luongo said when asked if he had
any butterflies. “It gets the adrenalin going, gets you sharper and more focused. I had a lot of fun out
there tonight and I'm sure I'll have a lot more fun tomorrow.”
Canada outshot the Germans 39-21.
It was a somewhat sharper Canadian team than has been seen thus far at the Olympics that outshot Germany
14-4 in the opening period and got the important first goal at 10:13 from the line of three San Jose skaters
against Sharks backup goalie Thomas Greiss.
“Every day we're just feeling better and better,” said Iginla.
Duncan Keith threw a puck to the net that Dany Heatley controlled and fed to Thornton in front for a short
shot inside the near post. It was Thornton's first of the tournament.
A strange goal by Weber made it 2-0 at 3:32 of the second period, but only after a video review confirmed
that his bullet drive from the point went in the top corner and straight through the netting.
“Yeah, I do it every day,” he said. “The angle it was going in, I was pretty sure it was going in unless
something weird happened.”
Iginla banged in a goal from the side of the net on a power play only 1:09 later and then picked a top
corner on a slow-speed rush for his fifth of the tournament – all in the time he has spent on Crosby's line –
at 8:50.
“That's what this tournament is all about, who can find chemistry the fastest, which lines are going to
work out the best,” said Nash. “It seems like the lines are firing now.”
Three minutes later, Nash broke through the German defence and was hooked from behind, drawing a penalty
shot. Under international rules, any player on the team can take the shot and coach Mike Babcock made the
curious decision to have Crosby shoot rather than rewarding Nash for his effort while the team had a
comfortable lead.
Crosby's backhand was stopped easily by Greiss.
Canada eased up noticeably after that and started losing battles for the puck. It cost them as a shot went
wide off the back boards and Luongo didn't get to the other side of his net in time to stop Goc on a
wraparound at 16:34.
Only 1:10 into the third period, Crosby was at the net to tip in a Staal pass, Brenden Morrow fed Richards
alone in the slot at 6:41 and Niedermayer came out of the penalty box and scored on a breakaway at 11:22.
Nash finally scored – his first in 10 career games at the Olympics – with a shot from his off-wing after
he was moved from Ryan Getzlaf's struggling line to the so-called fourth line with Richards and Jonathan
Toews.
“I was getting so many chances,” said Nash. “If I wasn't getting my chances, I'd be worried. Tonight,
again, I had three or four chances from point blank and finally one squeaked by him.”
Germany got one more with 1:02 left to play when Klinge scored on a two-man breakaway.
Germany's Marco Sturm said he noticed a difference in the Canadians, who were coming off a loss to the
U.S.
“They're just a great team the result shows it,” said the Boston Bruins forward. “There's a lot of
pressure (on the Canadians) but it's going to be a different game too. It's going to be a great game to
watch.”
Russian veteran Sergei Fedorov said Wednesday's game will be “crazy.”
“They will get great support,” he said at practice Tuesday. “They are under a lot of pressure and they are
playing in Canada. It's not easy, but they have experienced guys and they've been through a lot. They are a
very, very strong team.”
The Canadians will be well prepared, said Weber.
“It'll be a different style of game than tonight but it's something that we'll do some video and some
planning and we'll go from there,” he said.
|
| Game Information/Renseignements sur
le match |
| Event/Événement |
Winter Olympics |
Location/Emplacement |
Vancouver, B.C. |
| Date |
Tue. Feb. 23, 2010 |
Arena/Aréna |
Canada Hockey Place |
| Time/Heure |
4:30 pm PT |
Attendance/Assistance |
-,--- |
| Round/Ronde |
Qualification |
Game #/No du match |
20 |
| Box Score/Compte |
1
|
2
|
3
|
Final
|
| CAN |
1
|
3
|
4
|
8
|
| GER |
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
| Goals/Penalties -
Buts/Pénalités |
| First Period/Première période |
|
Goals/Buts :
10:13 CAN Joe Thornton (Dany Heatley, Duncan Keith)
Penalties/Pénalités :
05:29 GER Christopher Schmidt (High Sticking/Bâton élévé)
|
| Second Period/Deuxième période |
|
Goals/Buts :
02:32 CAN Shea Weber
03:31 CAN Jarome Iginla (Drew Doughty, Eric Staal) PP
08:50 CAN Jarome Iginla (Eric Staal, Dan Boyle)
16:34 GER Marcel Goc (Christopher Schmidt, Marcel Muller)
Missed penalty shot/Tir de punition raté:
11:23 CAN Sidney Crosby
Penalties/Pénalités :
03:26 GER Dennis Seidenberg (Slashing/Coup de bâton)
04:15 CAN DANY Heatley (Cross Checking/Double-échec)
06:34 CAN Scott Niedermayer (Tripping/Faire trébucher)
|
| Third Period/Troisième période |
|
Goals/Buts :
01:10 CAN Sidney Crosby (Eric Staal, Duncan Keith)
06:41 CAN Mike Richards (Brenden Morrow, Jonathan Toews)
11:22 CAN Scott Niedermayer
16:28 CAN Rick Nash (Chris Pronger)
18:58 GER Manuel Klinge (Marcel Muller, Kai Hospelt)
Penalties/Pénalités :
09:03 CAN Scott Niedermayer (Hooking /Accrocher)
|
| Goaltenders |
CAN |
Roberto Luongo |
| Gardiens de but |
GER |
Thomas Greiss |
| Shots on Goal |
Team |
1 p |
2 p |
3 p |
Ttl |
| Shots on Goal |
CAN |
14 |
11 |
14 |
39 |
| Tirs au but |
GER |
4 |
10 |
9 |
23 |
| |
| Referee/Arbitre |
--- |
| Linesmen/Juges des lignes |
--- |
GERMAN HOCKEY TEAM TO PLAY LIKE SWISS IN BID TO UPSET TEAM CANADA
VANCOUVER – The key to taking down a world hockey giant at the Olympics? The Germans say just play like
the Swiss.
The winless Germans' plan of attack Tuesday will be to shore things up on defence, force Team Canada to make
mistakes and score first.
Germany hopes to follow the lead of the smothering team from Switzerland, which clamped down last week on
the heavily favoured Canadians and took them to a shootout before losing 3-2.
The Swiss shocked Canada at the 2006 Olympics with a 2-0 win.
But the Germans expect a motivated Canadian side, fresh off a 5-3 loss Sunday to the United States, which
ended the preliminary round as the top-ranked squad in the 12-team tournament.
“They're pissed off, obviously, and they want to go for gold, so they're not going to mess around,” German
forward Marco Sturm said after practice Monday.
“We've got to work hard and skate well against these guys, like the Swiss did a few days ago.”
Sturm, who plays for the NHL's Boston Bruins, said Germany will also need big-time goaltending Tuesday
from netminder Thomas Greiss.
“Everything has to be perfect to beat these guys, but we've got be realistic, we're the big underdogs,”
said Sturm.
The German roster features seven players who have played in the NHL this season: Sturm, Christian Ehrhoff
of the Vancouver Canucks, Marcel Goc and Alexander Sulzer of the Nashville Predators, Jochen Hecht of the
Buffalo Sabres, Dennis Seidenberg of the Florida Panthers, and Greiss, a backup for the San Jose Sharks.
Most members of the German team play for pro clubs in that country, but a few will feel right at home
playing in Canada.
Defenceman Chris Schmidt and forwards Travis Mulock and John Tripp were all born in Canada.
“It's nice to come back to North America, I like playing on the smaller surface, you don't have to skate
so much,” said Tripp, 32, a former Los Angeles King who now plays for the Hamburg Freezers.
“I'm hoping my family cheers for me, but you never know.”
The Germans appeared relaxed Monday, saying all the pressure is squarely on Canadian shoulders.
The Canadian loss to the United States showed the Germans that even Canada's star players make errors,
said German head coach Uwe Krupp.
“With that lineup, it's important for all players to see that they're human, that there are mistakes being
made,” said Krupp, a former NHL defenceman who buried the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Colorado Avalanche
in 1996.
“That's something that I think is important to acknowledge because the U.S. would not have won this game
if there weren't mistakes being made on the Canadian side.”
But beating Canada will be a tall order for Germany, which scored just three goals in the preliminary
round – all of them in their last game, a 5-3 loss to Belarus, the former Soviet republic in eastern
Europe.
In their first two matches, they fell 2-0 to Sweden and 5-0 to Finland.
Germany is looking for its first Olympic hockey victory since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
So far, Germany's power play ranks ninth out of the 12 teams in the tournament and its penalty killing
performance is dead last.
Tripp insisted the games against Sweden and Finland, two of the tournament's top four teams, were closer
than the final scores suggest.
Germany hit two posts against the Swedes in a game he believes could have gone either way.
The Finns scored only one goal five-on-five against Germany – the rest came on the power play.
The trick will be to stay out of penalty box, remain compact as a group on the ice and stay within their
limitations, Tripp said.
“The same thing the Swiss did, just play smart,” said the Kingston, Ont. native.
Another challenge will be hitting the back of the Canadian net behind Roberto Luongo.
Ehrhoff, the Vancouver defenceman, hinted he might have a few tips for his countrymen on how to score on
Luongo, his Canucks teammate.
“If he has some weaknesses, I'm going to share them with my (German) teammates,” said Ehrhoff, who
wouldn't elaborate on his Luongo-beating strategies with reporters.
Still, the Germans are keeping things in perspective against a hockey team that will settle for nothing
less than gold.
“It would be a huge moment for German hockey” if the Germans managed to pull an upset Tuesday, Krupp
said.
“We're a small country. We have 30,000 hockey players and that's counting basically every kid that's got a
pair of skates,” the coach said.
“The dimensions are startling. We're a huge underdog.”
At the 2002 Games, Canada eked out a 3-2 win over Germany on its way to the gold medal. The last time the
countries met at the Olympics was in 2006, when Canada pummelled the German side 5-1.
Tripp admitted some of the fresher-faced Germans might be in awe of the Canadian players when they step
onto the ice.
“We have a lot of young kids who like (Sony) Playstation, so I'm sure they play with these guys on their
Playstation games all the time,” he said.
“It's going to be pretty extreme.”
