Canada Czech mate.

Day 11

Team Canada prevails over Czechs

Wayne Gretzky, the most prolific scorer in hockey history, wanted more goals and commitment. And what Gretzky wants, he usually gets. Team Canada responded to Gretzky's edict with its most determined effort of the Torino Olympics, a 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic on Tuesday before a lively crowd of 9,126 at Turin's Palasport Olimpico.

"Every game is a stepping stone in getting better and getting to the final game," Gretzky told CBC Sports.

"I thought our guys played really hard and got our feet wet with a nice win. It's do or die now."

Canada concluded the preliminary round with a 3-2-0 record, good for third place in Group A, and plays Russia in Wednesday's quarter-finals. Gretzky, Team Canada's executive director, criticized its lack of enthusiasm in consecutive shutout losses to Switzerland and Finland, calling for the younger players to better support core veterans like captain Joe Sakic. Head coach Pat Quinn went so far as to call Canada's performance versus Finland "kind of dopey," but the youngsters responded against the Czechs with Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis counting the first two goals to ramp up the team offensively.

"We competed," Quinn claimed. "We did some good things tonight and we're going to try to remember those good things and build off it."


Call it a character win but not necessarily a convincing one as Canada sagged at times, and, if not for the alert goaltending of Martin Brodeur in the third period, might not have come out on top. The Czechs outshot Canada 12-2 in the third and 33-16 overall.

"They took it to us pretty good, give them credit," Brodeur said. "But we were able to hold on.

"We'll hopefully take some positives off this. Although there were some negatives, it's time to be positive."

Chris Pronger, fingered for failing to finish checks and taking needless cross-checking penalties in earlier outings, led the Canadians with one goal and one assist.

"Finally getting a win after a couple of (bad) games gives everyone a lift," he said.

"I have never seen anyone fall off a mountain halfway through a tournament," Gretzky said. "We've got a long way to go here."

Pavel Kubina and Petr Cajanek tallied the goals for the injury-riddled Czech Republic (2-3-0), which finished fourth in Group A. It plays Slovakia in the quarter-finals.

Richards opened the scoring 7:37 into the contest, sweeping into the Czech zone and scoring his second goal of the tournament on a weak shot that fooled Tomas Vokoun between the pads. More importantly, it ended Canada's alarming scoring drought at 129 minutes, 11 seconds – more than two games. Less than seven minutes later, Vincent Lecavalier cycled the puck down low to St. Louis, who banked it in off Vokoun's stick from an awkward angle to make it 2-0. For St. Louis, it was his second goal and came with Frantisek Kaberle serving a hooking penalty. Pronger then stepped into a slap shot and blew it by Vokoun for his first with 36 seconds left in the period.

"We tried to start better and score a couple of quick goals and it was a big plus when we did that," said Team Canada forward Simon Gagne.

Vokoun was lifted in favour of Milan Hnilicka following the first period, in which Canada counted three goals on eight shots. Hnilicka was tested early in the second period, denying St. Louis on a breakaway and with an extended pad save moments later. Brodeur was equally sharp at the other end, smothering a loose puck on the goal-line and reaching high to snare a rising slap shot off the stick of Jaromir Jagr. Skating 5-on-3, the Czechs finally hit the board as Kubina's slap shot eluded Brodeur high to the blocker side with 6:14 left in the second.

"We ended up sitting back a bit and they started to come," Sakic explained. "But there were a lot of good things and a lot of things guys did better."

The Czechs applied relentless pressure early in the third and were rewarded when Cajanek's wrist shot handcuffed Brodeur 2:41 into the period. Cajanek nearly tied it less than a minute later, but Brodeur reached back to make a splendid stick save and retain the margin of victory.

Later,
Kenaz