Short stay in Salt Lake

Latvia rallies for 6-6 tie to eliminate Slovakia

Atvars Tribuncovs rejoices after his goal tied the game at 6 in the third period. AP

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) -- Atvars Tribuncovs finished off a three-goal rally and Latvia stayed alive in the Olympic hockey tournament by tying Slovakia 6-6 Sunday night -- eliminating the Slovaks from any chance of advancing.

"It is very sad for us," Slovakian defenseman Richard Lintner said. "We felt like we had a good enough team to beat both [Germany and Latvia]. We couldn't score yesterday; we scored many today, but we got scored against a lot. It's very frustrating."

Latvia (1-0-1) will play Germany (2-0) on Tuesday night with the winner advancing to the eight-team finals. Germany beat Austria 3-2 earlier Sunday.

"We made a lot of mistakes but we showed big morale," Latvian coach Curt Lindstrom said. "Now we have a big chance."

Slovakia (0-1-1), which has by far the most NHL players of the eight preliminary round teams, bounced back from its 3-0 upset loss Saturday to Germany to open a 6-3 lead with the help of goals by the newly arrived Josef Stumpel, Marian Hossa and Pavol Demitra.

"It's very frustrating," Filc said. "It's not fair. We did everything we could. We lost. We're out. I think it will also cost my coaching contract. That's a reality."

From Sports Illustrated • Brian Cazeneuve: Hockey truly a global game • Mark Beech: Oh, that JELL-O • SI Daily: One-way Street • Medal Picks: Predicting the top 3 Features • CNNSI.com's John Giannone: Quite a sight • Viewers' Guide: Feb. 11 • Daily Digest: A look back at the day's events • Sport Explainers: A how-to guide Multimedia • Video Box: Street smarts • Video Box: Back from the brink • Photo Gallery: Proving their medal • Video Plus: Video, Photo Galleries and More

But Latvia goalie Sergejs Naumovs -- playing in the unexpected absence of Arturs Irbe of the Carolina Hurricanes -- tightened up after a dreadful first two periods to shut out Slovakia in the third period. Latvia also got a big boost from NHL defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, who had three assists.

"It was very important to us," Ozolinsh said. "We have a lot of talented players who have played with each other a lot. We were a lot less disjointed than they were."

Slovakia, with a far different lineup than it put on the ice against Germany, needed just 11 seconds to score when Stumpel's hard slap shot from the blue line whizzed by Naumovs' glove.

It was the third fastest goal in Olympic history -- and start of a trend as three of the four goals in a 2-2 first period were scored on nearly identical shots, by Slovakia's Jan Pardavy and Latvia's Alexander Nizivijs. Vyacheslav Fanduls also scored for Latvia.

Unlike Saturday, when NHL players Miroslav Satan and Ziggy Palffy weren't factors against Germany, Slovakia had plenty of offense as consecutive goals by Hossa, Lubomir Visnovsky, Robert Petrovicky and Demitra in the final 14 1/2 minutes of the second period made it 6-3.

"We've got a great team here, and we hope this is going to work out," Demitra said.

It didn't, as Latvia -- upset that the NHL wouldn't allow Irbe to play, even though he wasn't in the Hurricanes' lineup Sunday -- answered with Alexander Macijevskis' second goal of the game late in the second period and third-period goals by Alexander Belavskis, at 4:45, and Tribuncovs, at 7:43.

"I know our goaltending struggled, but we should have played better on offense and on defense," Slovakian center Robert Petrovicky said.

The NHL wouldn't allow Carolina to excuse Irbe for the game, saying the quality of play could be affected if Hurricanes goalie Tom Barrasso got hurt and a minor-league backup were used.

The ruling seemed contradictory to the NHL's decision allowing Colorado backup David Aebischer to play the entire preliminary round for Switzerland after he shut out Minnesota 6-0 on Friday night. The Avalanche called up a minor leaguer as goalie Patrick Roy's backup until the Olympic break starts Thursday.

"I was expecting Arturs to play today, but we will have him in the net Tuesday," Lindstrom said. "Sandis has to go back home, but we still have a strong lineup."

Ozolinsh said the most exhausting part of his trip to Salt Lake City was dealing with the vast layers of security.

"It took a very long time to get here, the security was really different. I had a lot of questions asked of me, but this was a once in a lifetime chance," he said.

At least Ozolinsh won't spend the next four years questioning if he made the right decision, as Slovakia will.

 

Related information
Stories
Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Standings Senators not pleased by Chara's exclusion from Slovakia's roster Germany takes charge of Group A with 3-2 win over Austria CNNSI.com's Darren Eliot: Slovakia falls for German trap Germany stuns heavily favored Slovakia 3-0
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.