Team Canada slips past Switzerland in shootout
Last Updated: Friday, February 19, 2010 | 12:50 AM ET
By Tim Wharnsby in Vancouver, CBC Sports
Team Canada goaltender Martin Brodeur denies Swiss forward Sandy Jeannin in men's Olympic hockey Thursday night. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) The Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team has given the country cause for concern after a narrow escape against Switzerland.
The Canadians survived a scare in their second game of the tournament only because Sidney Crosby fired in a wrist shot on his second shootout attempt to push Canada to a 3-2 victory in front of 17,019 relieved fans at Canada Hockey Place on Thursday.
Even though this was only Canada’s second outing at the Vancouver Olympics and it has two wins, there will be plenty of disparagement directed at Team Canada for its scary effort.
“To go through that desperation and tight hockey, we’re going to have to get better as we move forward,” Crosby said. “The gold-medal game isn’t tomorrow, and that’s the good news.”
Canada needs a win in regulation or overtime in its final game of the preliminary round against the United States on Sunday to guarantee a spot in the quarter-finals next week. A loss would place the Canadians in the qualification round, a path that makes the final week of the Olympic hockey tournament more difficult to advance to the gold-medal match.
In the shootout against Switzerland, Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf each missed their first attempts against Switzerland’s stingy goalie Jonas Hiller. But Canadian netminder Martin Brodeur kept his boys in the game with three stops of his own.
International Ice Hockey Federation rules allow teams to use the same shooters after the first three rounds. So Crosby went again and this time beat the Anaheim Ducks goalie.
“He has quick feet and he was good on dekes, so I just decided to shoot,” Crosby said.
Shootout stats studied
So how did Canadian head coach Mike Babcock and his assistants choose their shooters?
They simply took the NHL shootout stats and selected the three with the best percentage. Crosby was first, followed by Toews and Getzlaf. They then decided to go back with Crosby, instead of going with the fourth-best on the team in Rick Nash.
Brodeur made the game-clinching save on an attempt from Swiss forward Martin Pluss.
Brodeur remarked that it didn’t matter that he was unfamiliar with the four different Swiss shooters — Hnat Domenichelli, Romano Lemm and Roman Wick preceded Pluss — because he tried to dictate whether his opponents would shoot or deke by showing them an opening and then swiftly shutting the door.
“I had no clue,” he said. “There was only one guy I could pronounce his name.”
Canada had built a 2-0 lead with a Heatley goal midway through the opening 20 minutes and a Patrick Marleau power-play goal early in the second period. But time and time again, the Canadians passed up scoring opportunities to make an extra pass, allowing the Swiss to stay in the game.
“I think earlier on I passed up on a couple shots to make a pass,” Crosby said.
No traffic problems
Canada outshot its opponent 47-23, but Switzerland kept most of the opportunities to the outside. Canada also failed to create traffic in front of Hiller, the Canadian defence was poor at moving the puck to the forwards and the power play struggled at a one-for-seven clip.
This kept the Swiss in good spirits. They received a huge lift midway through the second when veteran Ivo Ruthemann cruised down the left wing and blasted a shot past Brodeur.
All of a sudden, Switzerland skated better, moved the puck more efficiently and outworked the Canadians. This resulted in the tying goal, when defenceman Patrick Von Gunten drifted in a shot off the left skate of Marleau.
“Jonas Hiller was our best penalty killer and our penalty killers kept us in this game,” said Swiss coach Ralph Krueger, a Winnipeg native who was also behind the bench when his team upset Canada 2-0 at the 2006 Winter Games.
The Canadian players and Krueger conceded this Swiss group is better than the 2006 edition and played a more efficient game.
“We were a much better team,” Krueger said. “We created more and moved the puck well. The guys showed a lot of character coming back from 2-0.”
Now Babcock hopes the lessons learned in the Swiss game will benefit Canada in its quest for the gold medal.
“We were able to survive it,” he said. “I think this was a huge step for our team to know how hard it is to win.”
Notes – Moments before the two teams emerged from the dressing rooms, a replay of Canadian speedskater Christine Nesbitt’s gold-medal performance in the women’s 1,000-metre race was shown on the scoreboard high above centre ice. … United States general manager Brian Burke left Vancouver to attend a memorial service for his son Brendan, who died earlier this month as the result of a car accident. The memorial was to be held at Brendan’s school, the University of Miami (Ohio). Burke is expected to return in time for the game on Sunday. … Canada will take a day off to enjoy the Olympic experience Friday and rest up before returning for a practice on Saturday.
