Slovakia Upsets Russia, Canada Holds on Against Swiss
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Last night's games featured two of the favorites to win Olympic gold, but neither team played like it. Russia lost to the Slovak team by a score of 2-1 while Canada won 3-2, both ending in a shootout.
Russia’s loss came with Ilya Bryzgalov in net rather than Evgeni Nabakov who tended goal on Tuesday night. Even while starting their second goalie, the problem for the Russians was scoring.
On a team filled with stars like Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin, and Evgeni Malkin one goal is completely unacceptable. Montreal Canadian goalie Jaroslav Halak was the key to the Slovak victory as he saved 36 of the 37 shots he faced.
Mariano Hossa tied the game in the third period and there were no scores for the rest of regulation or overtime. In the shootout, Pavol Demitra and Jozef Stumpel put two in net for Slovakia while only Ovechkin was able to score for Russia.
This upset sets a very intriguing match-up in the next round in this group. If Russia loses to the Czech’s and Slovakia takes out Latvia, then Russia does not make the next round of play and will be eliminated.
Canada had a bit more luck on their side.
While the score was 2-2, the players of the game were the goalies. Jonas Hiller made a slew of great saves including back to back stops in the third period with the last being a great glove side catch. The Canadian goalie, Martin Brodeur did not let one goal get by him in the shootout as the Canadian team came out victorious.
Sidney Crosby put in the final goal for the Canadians after they blew a 2-0 lead in a game that probably should have never gone to shootout to begin with.
The Canadians need to play better if they want to win Olympic gold and defend their home turf. The next round match-up between the border sharing Canadians and Americans will be a very intriguing match, and whoever comes out on top will have won the group.
