A nation is grateful
Lecavalier sends Canada into final
By MIKE ZEISBERGER, TORONTO SUN
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Team Canada's Vincent Lecavalier is congratulated by teammates Dany Heatley and Jay Bouwmeester after scoring the overtime winner Saturday night.
(CP PHOTO/Paul Chiasson) |
Vinny Lecavalier was not even supposed to be here. Last night, an entire country celebrated his presence.
Passed over during the initial selection process by Team Canada back in May, Lecavalier could have sulked at the perceived snub and few would have blamed him.
Of course, such an attitude wouldn't have made him the national hero he is this morning.
"I never thought about it twice," a jubilant Lecavalier said just moments after his dramatic overtime goal gave Canada a thrilling 4-3 victory over a valiant Czech Republic team.
"You wait your chance to play for your country and if you get it, you do it."
Lecavalier would not have even been on the team had Steve Yzerman's eye injury healed in time for the World Cup.
KNOCKING AT DOOR
But when the Team Canada braintrust learned Yzerman would not be available, Wayne Gretzky and company came knocking on Lecavalier's door looking for a replacement just weeks before the opening of training camp.
Today, Gretzky probably is thanking his lucky stars Lecavalier said yes.
With the crowd of 19,273 shoehorned into the Air Canada Centre chewing its collective fingernails down to the skin, Lecavalier ended a dramatic evening by flicking the puck from a bad angle past flailing Czech goaltender Tomas Vokoun at 3:45 of the first overtime period.
As the puck hit the mesh behind Vokoun, Lecavalier, the man once referred to by then-Tampa Bay Lightning owner Art Williams as hockey's Michael Jordan, resembled His Airness by leaping about a foot off the ice.
It is a moment that will be remembered in Canadian hockey history, at least on the international scene. It might not rank as high as Paul Henderson in 1972 or Mario Lemieux's huge goal off a Gretzky pass in 1987, but no doubt it has its own place.
"It's such a great feeling," said Lecavalier, who missed his first swipe at the puck before finally hoisting it in. "It was an ugly goal but it was huge.
"It's definitely one of the highlights of my career."
By disposing of the Czechs, who carried the play for much of the evening, Lecavalier carried Canada into the tournament final Tuesday at the Air Canada Centre.
Awaiting them will be a Finnish team led by goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, a familiar foe for Lecavalier. Keep in mind that it took Lecavalier's Lightning seven games in the Stanley Cup final before it could overcome Kiprusoff's Calgary Flames.
"He's one of the best in the world," Lecavalier said. "We just have to get pucks at the net and get bodies in front of him. In a one-game showdown he is going to be especially tough."
Team Canada appeared as if it had finally disposed of the pesky Czechs when Kris Draper ripped a shot into the top corner past Vokoun at 13:47 of the third period to snap a 2-2 tie.
But not so fast.
Just six seconds after Draper's go-ahead goal, the Czechs stunned the building when a Patrik Elias shot from the high slot squeezed through the legs of Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo.
