Canadian hockey fans can finally exhale after their side defeated a motivated Czechia squad 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday to advance to the semi-finals.
For the first time all tournament, Canada faced multiple deficits, trailing 3-2 with under four minutes to play in the game. However, a Nick Suzuki deflection with 3:27 remaining tied things at 3 goals apiece, sending the game into overtime.
From there it was Mitch Marner, whose 1 on 3 backhander to the far side of the net sent the Canadian side into a frenzy, and avoided what would have been a disastrous quarterfinal exit in Italy.
Czechia played easily their best game of the tournament, but couldn’t hang on down the stretch as the veteran heavy Canadian side continued to ramp up pressure throughout the contest. That was no small feat given the devastating loss of captain Sidney Crosby midway through the game.
Crosby appeared to tweak something after taking a hit along the boards from Czechia’s Radko Gudas, and skated gingerly off the ice shortly thereafter. He would ultimately be ruled out for the remainder of the game with what the team is labelling a lower body injury. Head coach Jon Cooper did not have an update on the 38 year old’s status when speaking with reporters after the game.
Crosby played just seven shifts (4:41 of ice time) before departing due to the injury.
Cooper told reporters that players were highly motivated during the second intermission to ensure that Wednesday was not Crosby’s final Olympic contest. The team will now await the results of the remaining quarter final games to determine their opponent on Friday.
As the top seeded team coming out of round robin play, the Canadians will play the lowest remaining seed with a trip to the gold medal game on the line.
Photo: Sportsfan 1234. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.