Milan (Italy) (AFP) – Mitch Marner scored in overtime as Canada saw off the Czech Republic 4-3 to advance to the Olympic men’s ice hockey semi-finals along with Slovakia, who dispatched Germany 6-2 on Wednesday. Canada had cruised through the preliminary round, notably handing the Czechs a 5–0 defeat just six days ago. But the Czechs, the 2024 world champions, provided a very different kind of resistance this time before falling in sudden death in overtime after having taken the lead twice.
The two teams traded blows, with the Canadians opening through Macklin Celebrini within four minutes, before Lukas Sedlak levelled four minutes later. The Czech Republic pulled ahead thanks to David Pastrnak’s first goal of the tournament after quarter of an hour. Jon Cooper’s Canadians raised their game in the second period, outshooting their opponents 17 to 5. But they lacked precision in the final touch and only a blatant foul by Michal Kempny, who was penalised, opened up the space for Nathan MacKinnon to equalise for 2–2.
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Canada lost captain Sidney Crosby, a two-time Olympic champion in 2010 and 2014, who hurt his leg and did not return to the game. The Czechs gradually tilted the balance back in the final period and regained the lead 3-2, with a blistering counter finished off by Ondrej Palat. The Canadian reply came with a long-range shot from Nick Suzuki before Marner delivered the winner.
– Slovak domination –
The Slovaks, bronze medallists four years ago, had progressed from Group B of the group stage, defeating 2022 Winter Games champions Finland and Italy but losing to Sweden. Slovakia capitalised on their dominance at the end of the first period with Pavol Regenda scoring after 19 minutes against a German team unrecognisable from the side that thrashed France 5-1 on Tuesday.
The rest of the game was a Slovak demonstration of skill, with Milos Kelemen and Oliver Okuliar scoring two quick-fire goals before Dalibor Dvorsky grabbed a fourth just after half an hour. Germany’s 2020 National Hockey League (NHL) MVP Leon Draisaitl set up Lukas Reichel to keep their hopes alive after 35 minutes but that was quickly extinguished at the start of the final period by Regenda’s second goal.
To round things off, Tomas Tatar responded to Frederik Tiffels’s power-play score after 50 minutes with a goal of his own. “It’s unbelievable against guys and teams like this, the individuals they have, it’s crazy,” said Regenda. “We are happy, we are a great team, from first to last. Everybody is working 200 percent every day and you can see out there. We are happy that we are in the top four of the world now.”
All four quarter-finals take place on Wednesday. Finland take on Switzerland and then the United States face Sweden. Both Canada and the USA have rosters packed with players from the NHL, whose players are competing at an Olympics for the first time since 2014.
© 2024 AFP
