CANADA WILL PLAY FOR GOLD AT WJHC

By Derrik T. Sovak

Canada’s National Junior Team has advanced to the Gold Medal game in the 2005 World Junior Championship after defeating the Czech Republic 3-1 on Sunday afternoon in Grand Forks, N.D.

In the semifinal match up between the two teams there was a lot of physical play that led to a lot of penalties. “We knew coming into this game that it was going to be a tough game for us,” said Canada head coach Brent Sutter. “And we were right; it wasn’t an easy game for us to win.”

After forty minutes of play, the two teams had already racked up 14 penalties of which Canada committed five. Canada dominated in every aspect of the game, especially in shots and penalty killing. The entire contest was a defense minded game from start to finish.

“We try to focus on keeping teams’ scoring chances down and not letting them get the upper hand,” said Ryan Getzlaf. “We want to focus on shutting teams down and that’s what we did.”

Sutter also added some accolades to his defensive players. “Our defense, on the whole, played a good game. We’re down to six defenseman and they’re stepping it up like they should.”

In the first period, both teams came out on fire as play moved up and down the ice but without the quality scoring chances. Canada came up with an early scoring chance right in front of the Czech net but goalie Marek Schwarz came up with a sprawling save to keep the score at 0-0.

Canada finally got the scoring started at the 18:38 mark when Jeff Carter put a shot past Schwarz to set the score at 1-0.

“That was a big goal for us,” said Carter. “It allowed us some insurance and some opportunities to go up 1-0 on [the Czechs.]” That put an end to scoring in the first period as Canada outshot the Czech Republic 10-2.

In the second period, Canada got its power play rolling at just about the halfway mark when Nigel Dawes scored Canada’s second goal.

“I think I was pretty excited to get that goal,” Dawes said. “Any time you can step up for your team in a big game and get a point you’re happy with how you’re playing.” Dawes also added that the Czechs were the best team that Canada has seen in the WJC so far. “They played a strong game and challenged us at the points.”

Canada scored again two and a half minutes later when Patrice Bergeron added to Canada’s lead to 3-0 with help from Sidney Crosby and Corey Perry.

Play got rougher in the second period as both teams were whistled for penalties. The Czechs received two minors for cross-checking and Canada received one penalty for roughing. The score remained at 3-0 in Canada’s favor into the third period. Canada did outshoot the Czechs 16-2 in the middle frame.

In the third, the Czech Republic got on the board early in the period with a shorthanded goal by Rostislav Olesz to set the score at 3-1.

“Our team didn’t lie down after giving up that goal,” said Sutter. “We said from the first game that we wanted to be a mentally strong team and that we couldn’t let things like that get us down.”

The game ended with Canada getting the best of the Czechs 3-1. Canada is now exactly where it wanted to be within the WJC brackets. “We’re still taking it one game at a time,” said Sutter. “We’ve been focused from game one and we’ll be focused through the gold medal game.”

Canada will face the winner of Sunday night’s U.S./Russia semifinal game. But Nigel Dawes says it doesn’t matter what team Canada plays as long as they win. “We’ve watched the games on T.V. so we’ve seen a little of what both teams have to offer,” said Dawes. “We have good rivalries with both the U.S. and Russia so it really doesn’t matter to us.

Carter agrees with Dawes and says there isn’t much they will spare no effort in getting the gold medal. “We need to keep going for one more game here,” said Carter. “We’ve all waited a long time for this and we’re right where we want to be … so if we blow it off it’ll be pretty disappointing.”

Game time is set for Tuesday, January 4th at 7:30 p.m. (Local time)

Game Notes