Czechs expect to face Brodeur
By MIKE ZEISBERGER, TORONTO SUN
 |
Team Canada goalie Martin Brodeur (top), stands with Martin St-Louis (lower left), Jay Bouwmeester, (center) Kris Draper (lower right), and Dany Heatley (upper right), while listening to the coaching staff during World Cup of Hockey practice at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Friday. (CP PHOTO/J.P. Moczulski) |
By the time you read this, Martin Brodeur will have wiped the sleep out of his eyes and pleasantly discovered that his left wrist sprain miraculously healed overnight. That's the bold prediction of Czech forward Petr Sykora, Brodeur's former teammate with the New Jersey Devils.
"I guarantee you he will play," Sykora said, echoing the sentiments of many Czech players. "He's just trying to take pressure off his team."
The Czechs obviously are not buying into the suggestion that Brodeur, Canada's most valuable player, might not suit up tonight for a World Cup semi-final at the Air Canada Centre.
"I've seen Marty play in pain before,'' Sykora said. "The bottom line is he lives for big games. And there is no bigger game than this."
No one need remind Brodeur what is on the line here.
While his impressive trophy case includes three Stanley Cup rings and an Olympic gold medal, winning a major title in Canada is the career accomplishment he has yet to fulfill.
A victory tonight advances Canada to the final on Tuesday and bring the extremely competitive Brodeur one step closer to achieving his goal.
PRE-GAME DECISION
Brodeur, who has allowed just three goals in 240 minutes of tournament play, plans to test his ailing hand in the pre-game warmup before making a decision.
Most observers -- especially those down the hallway in the Czech dressing room -- claim Brodeur's pride and resiliency make him a slam dunk to start, but the Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender insists nothing is etched in stone.
"I've only missed three or four games in my career due to injury," Brodeur, who addressed the media with his left hand heavily wrapped, said. "If I don't play it's because I can't. I don't want to take a chance jeopardizing Team Canada because of my ego."
Brodeur was injured with five minutes remaining in Canada's 5-0 win over Slovakia on Wednesday when a long shot from the neutral zone smacked him awkwardly in the catching glove.
While a subsequent MRI revealed no internal damage, the knifing pain caused Brodeur to leave yesterday's practice early. During his brief stint on the ice, his teammates avoided shooting at his glove.
"If it improves as much (today) as it did (yesterday), I think I'll be able to go," Brodeur said.
Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo, who comes from the same Montreal neighbourhood as Brodeur, will get the call in the event Brodeur can not answer the bell.
"We're hoping Marty's okay, but on the other side we know Luongo is a pretty good goaltender in his own right," Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky said. "This team has played pretty hard and I think as players go, they'll dig down even deeper (if Luongo is in net).
"We're not in any kind of panic situation here. We still feel that Marty's probably going to be okay."
The Czechs are banking on it.
