Canada's patience pays off
By JIM KERNAGHAN -- London Free Press
Deep in the heart of every hockey fan lurks the fluke-flamed fear that something bizarre, something truly against all reason, could snatch victory in its cruel jaws.
It was there in a full Air Canada Centre last night when Canada stuttered at the outset against Slovakia in their World Cup quarter-final game. Surely this couldn't end on a ricocheting puck.
You know, the kind that go off a hip, a stick and then a skate and in, to be nursed fanatically home to a tight upset win.
Turns out it didn't happen as Canada advanced to Saturday's semifinal against the Czech Republic by casting aside a jittery opening period to pour in four second-period goals and another in the third for a 5-0 victory.
"There was a bit of a sense of relief (after the Canadians broke the scoreless deadlock)," coach Pat Quinn said. "I sure didn't want the players to feel that way."
The trouble with a star-studded lineup like Canada's is that expectations go into the stratosphere. The 18,000-plus who paid the equivalent of small mortgages to see the action acted as though they expected the Slovaks to get buried early.
But they're pros, too. And they had a game plan that involved not taking any chances, playing a tight trap and waiting to counter-attack.
"We saw Sweden get impatient and we saw Russia get impatient," Quinn said of two eliminated teams. "We fully expected Slovakia to play us the way those teams were played and they did."
It took the Canadians nearly an entire first period to get their game up to a level that made the Slovaks uncomfortable. It pretty well established how they'd play in the second period, which is to say dominating.
It fell to the most potent line on the team to do the damage, a line that so far in the tournament has played well but without a lot to show for it. That changed in a hurry as the Mario Lemieux-Joe Sakic-Jarome Iginla line piled up seven scoring points.
Iginla got his first two goals of the tournament while Sakic, Vincent Lecavalier and Ryan Smyth got the others. Team captain Lemieux added two assists. The four second-period goals came inside 10 minutes.
Lemieux, who was creating havoc in front of Slovak goalie Jan Lasak, was given credit for one goal on a pass from Iginla. He immediately told officials it went off a stick or skate and was Iginla's goal.
"It was a bit of a two-on-one break on the net for Mario and I," Iginla said. "I saw his stick there. I was just trying to hit it but I missed him again."
"I was wide-open, too," Lemieux said with a wink.
Canada has history on its side as it prepares to take on the Czechs.
Canada should play all its games in Toronto. In 10 full internationals, Canada has yet to lose there.
Going back to 1972, when Canada defeated the then-Soviet Union 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in the second game of their epic eight-game series, Canada has amassed nine wins and a draw.
Eight of the games were at Maple Leaf Gardens. In the first one here at the Air Canada Centre last Saturday, Canada defeated Russia 3-1. The NHL record book mentions only seven games at Maple Leaf Gardens but the World Hockey Association stars defeated the Soviet national team there in 1974.
Sakic offered a word or two of caution for all those who think Saturday's game will be a repeat of this one.
"That's a good hockey team that's peaking at the right time," he said of the squad that blistered vaunted Sweden. "It's going to be one exciting hockey game."
One less likely to inspire fear of flukes.
