Was that a great hockey game or what? The Czechs gave Canada all they could handle and probably deserved to win. The Czechs out-shot, out-chanced, and out-played Canada, but in the end Canada managed to pull it out. Vincent Lecavalier ended it 3:45 into overtime. This was a "what goes around comes around" type of win for Canada as like the Nagano '98 semi-finals, the better team did not move on to the finals.
Before Lecavalier scored the Czechs had several chances, but Roberto Luongo came up with some huge saves to keep his team in the game. Luongo was between the pipes in place of Martin Brodeur who could not play due to his injured wrist. Luongo was great at times but he also let in a couple he should have stopped. At the other end of the rink, Tomas Vokoun was solid making some great saves, but like Luongo, he also gave up a couple he would like back.
The young Canadian team looked nervous and tentative throughout the hockey game. It seemed like they had more giveaways in this game than all the others combined. Was Brad Richards using some kind of rubber blade, because every time he touched the puck it seemed to bounce right off his stick. On defense, Robyn Regehr had a great game playing against Jagr, unfortunately he was victimized on the Czech's 4th goal. Jay Boumeester had another strong game and IMO if Wade Redden is ready to play on Tuesday, he should replace Scott Hannan not Bouwmeester.
Canada will now play Finland in the final on Tuesday. Expect some updates("The Brodeur watch") and a game preview. In the mean time here are some post game stories from around the web...
No comments:
Post a Comment