Canadians not taking Slovakia lightly
Last Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010 | 10:01 AM ET
By Tim Wharnsby, CBC Sports
Jaroslav Halak of the Montreal Canadiens is supplying quality goaltending for Slovakia. (Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images)Canada-Slovakia doesn't have the same ring to hockey fans in this country as Canada-Russia or even Canada-United States.
But the Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team plans to take Slovakia as seriously as it would a heated rival like Russia or the U.S., especially since Canada’s semifinal opponent at Canada Hockey Place on Friday night knocked out the defending Olympic champs from Sweden in the quarter-finals and beat the Russians in a shootout in the preliminary round.
"You can’t take any team for granted at this point," said Canada's Sidney Crosby. "Beating a team like Sweden, as a team they play so well. So if [Slovakia] can beat them, it shows a lot. They’re playing well themselves. They're a good team from the goaltender on out.
"We have a lot of respect for them. We believe this could be our biggest test yet."
Canada's mantra throughout the Olympic tournament was to get better every game. But it would be hard to imagine that the Canadians could play any better than they did in their 7-3 romp against Russia in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
In Slovakia, Canada will find a patient opponent that plays a defence-first system and waits for offensive chances off its adversary's mistakes. Slovakia also has productive special teams. It leads the Olympic tournament in power-play efficiency with seven goals in 19 chances and the top penalty-killing unit with an 18-for-19 success rate.
"They have some skill up front with [Marian] Gaborik and [Marian] Hossa and they have some underrated players like [Pavol] Demitra," Canadian forward Eric Staal said.
Halak strong in goal
Slovakian coach Jan Filc, whose son Robert tended goal for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds a few years ago and still lives in Vancouver, also has received some strong netminding from Montreal Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak.
"He's played really well for Montreal all season, and in this tournament he has held them in," Crosby said. “He's made some big saves when he's needed to down the stretch.
"For any team to get to this point you had to have some good goaltending."
The last time the Canadian men won Olympic gold, in 2002, their path to the final was softened after Belarus shocked Sweden in the quarter-finals.
Slovakia was dealt a bad hand eight years ago, when it had to participate in a qualification tournament before the Olympics and many of the country’s top players were not available because they were playing in the NHL.
Meanwhile, Canadian coach Mike Babcock hopes to continue to get strong efforts from some of his young players like defenceman Shea Weber, Drew Doughty and Duncan Keith.
"They’re outstanding players," Babcock said. "They’re obviously ahead of themselves age-wise. And because they skate so well and they have good hockey sense, they're going to keep getting better.
"Just think about a young guy who comes to this tournament and finds out he's as good as the best in the world. He's going to go back to the National Hockey League with a ton of confidence and make his team better.
"What we’ve seen from Doughty, I mean, he has ice in his veins. Obviously, Weber, to me, is just fantastic because he's got the [whole] package, and Keith and Seabrook are good young players. But don’t ever kid yourself because those young players without the veteran leadership of [Scott] Niedermayer, [Chris] Pronger and [Dan] Boyle aren't the same. It's nice to have comforting people around."
