Huge challenge ahead

Canada-Czech loser could draw Russia in quarterfinals

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) -- A few days ago, the Czech Republic-Canada game was viewed as a possible Olympic preview of the gold medal hockey final.

Now, after each team was torpedoed by surprising Sweden, and Canada was taken to the edge of defeat by -- gasp! -- Germany, the game Monday may serve only to determine which of the big favorites is in big, big trouble.

Sweden, the 1994 gold medalist, all but assured itself a relatively easy quarterfinal as goalie Tommy Salo made 37 saves in a 2-1 victory Sunday over the defending champion Czechs. That victory followed a 5-2 rout Friday of Canada.

"It's very early in the tournament, but we've played two very good teams and we have four points," said Mats Sundin, who scored his third goal in two games. "We have to be happy, it's a good start for us, but that's all it is."

Salo turned aside 30 shots just in the final two periods as the Czechs pressed throughout to gain a tie after falling behind Sweden 2-0.

"I'm disappointed, but it's better to lose now than in the medal round," Czech defenseman Tomas Kaberle said. "We played well, we had a lot of chances, a lot of shots, we just couldn't score."

Now, the Czechs know how their opponents felt in Nagano, where Dominik Hasek's remarkable goaltending -- only two goals allowed in the final three games -- enabled them to bounce back from a round-robin loss to Russia.

On Sunday, the goalie known as the Dominator was not as dominant as Salo, whose play for Sweden in 1994 was comparable to Hasek's in 1998.

"But I don't think too much about it," Salo said of going against Hasek. "I was concentrating on winning the hockey game, that was the important thing."

Canada, which couldn't handle Sweden's creative 'torpedo' offensive system two days before, rebounded -- but barely -- with a 3-2 victory over Germany on Sunday in Provo, Utah. Most Canadians probably figured the score would be more like 13-2.

Canada might have lost to a team with only a couple of NHL players if Paul Kariya and Adam Foote hadn't scored in a span of just more than four minutes in the second period.

"This is a tense time," Canada coach Pat Quinn said. "We're having trouble dealing with the tenseness."

The Canadians did not look nearly as fast or as efficient against Germany as either Sweden or the Czechs, who played arguably the most fast-paced game of the Olympics so far -- faster perhaps than Saturday's memorable 2-2 tie between the United States and Russia.

The second period alone was a nearly nonstop sequence of end-to-end rushes and excellent goaltending, with the teams combining for 28 shots.

"We didn't play our best, but we stuck together and held on," Sweden forward Ulf Dahlen said. "They had the puck more and, on this ice, the team that has the puck more has a big advantage."

Canada knows all about that, having watched Sweden race up and down Friday, making breakout passes that freed up their forwards for breakaways at the other end. They will see similar speed from Czechs, who have won the last four world-level tournaments: the 1998 Olympics, plus three world championships.

Should Canada lose to the Czechs, it most likely would meet Russia in the quarterfinals -- hardly the walkover opponent Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky was hoping for going into the tournament.

 

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