Canada Gets Wake-Up Call
NAGANO, Japan — This one was supposed to be a laugher, a sure ticket to the semifinals as a reward for the Canadian men’s hockey team winning its round-robin group.
And when Joe Nieuwendyk and Shayne Corson scored within the first two minutes 13 seconds of Canada’s quarterfinal game against Kazakhstan on Wednesday at Big Hat, that notion was only reinforced.
But when Kazakhstan forward Konstantin Shafranov blasted a shot off the arm of goaltender Patrick Roy to cut Canada’s lead to 2-1 at 3:46 of the first period, the Canadians suddenly and unexpectedly found themselves in a tight game.
“Kazakhstan played with a lot of grit and a lot of heart and they were feisty guys right to the end,” Canada Coach Marc Crawford said. “Their goaltender [Vitaly Yeremeyev] played exceptionally right to the end.”
In the end, though, Canada prevailed, 4-1. With a few sighs of relief--and a 4-0 record--Canada advanced to an intriguing semifinal matchup with the Czech Republic and goalie Dominik Hasek.
“One guy doesn’t beat a team. He’s a big part of their team, him and [Jaromir] Jagr,” said Wayne Gretzky, whose clever playmaking set up Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman for the second-period goals that enabled Canada to overpower Kazakhstan (0-4).
“We’ve got to get the puck to the net and crash the net,” Gretzky added. “He’s a good goaltender.”
So is Roy, although he faced only 17 shots Wednesday.
“In the NHL, they’re the top two goalies,” Canadian winger Mark Recchi said. “When it gets down to one game, goaltending is very important. . . . Either one of those goalies can win a game for their respective sides.”
Canada had a difficult time solving Yeremeyev, who made 33 saves. “What I find particularly gratifying is that none of my guys got star-struck,” Kazakhstan Coach Boris Alexandrov said. “They played with a lot of dignity too. I believe my team needs these kind of high-powered games.”
Shanahan needed a pregame pep talk from assistant coach Wayne Cashman to help ease his anxiety over not having scored in Canada’s first three games. Corson and Yzerman also scored their first Olympic goals Wednesday.
“I was starting to grip my stick tighter than anybody,” Shanahan said. “In an important tournament such as this, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. [Cashman] was trying to relax me a bit. He said, ‘This is fun, enjoy it.’ ”
Canadian defenseman Scott Stevens acknowledged being surprised the Czechs defeated the U.S. in another quarterfinal Wednesday. “You kind of expect the U.S. to be there,” he said. “Nothing’s easy when it comes down to the semifinals. No matter who you play, it’s going to be tough.”
Stevens probably will be assigned to shadow Jagr, the high-scoring Czech right wing, as he has often done while playing for the New Jersey Devils against Jagr’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
“You have to play very smart with him,” Stevens said. “He feels contact and he takes off. You’ve got to stay on the defensive side of him. You can’t try to crush him because he can go around you and there’s more room on these rinks.”
Said Crawford: “Obviously, we’re going to have to be at our best to win. You’ve got to make sure you pay attention to detail and make sure everyone is ready to do what it takes, and we believe we have that feeling on this team.”
