Canada 2
Finland 1
SALT LAKE CITY – All of a sudden, the way is clear for the Canadians to the gold-medal game, despite all the awful things being said about them, both real and imagined by Wayne Gretzky.
The country that started the game of hockey finished off Finland, 2-1, last night at the E-Center, moving into tomorrow night’s semifinal against Belarus, which, thank you very much, shocked Sweden, 4-3 yesterday.
Eric Lindros, who missed the final seven minutes of the Czech game with what was called a right shoulder bruise, did not play from after a collision with Janne Niinimaa midway in the second period. There was no immediate word if Lindros had been reinjured.
His linemates, Ryan Smith and Owen Nolan, wound up with Joe Nieuwendyk but most of the ice time was taken over by the line of Mario Lemieux, Paul Kariya and Steve Yzerman.
It was a down and dirty win in which Canada, trying to win an Olympic gold medal for the first time in 50 years, dug in with its grittiest and best players, No. 1 of which was Lemieux. It is no coincidence that Canada has gotten better as Lemieux has gotten better. Obviously slowed by what turned out to be the disclosure of a hip injury in the opener, Lemieux returned with a two-goal performance against the Czechs and last night set up what proved to be the winning goal with a gorgeous give-and-go with Yzerman.
With Canada leading 1-0 on a goal by Joe Sakic, Lemieux took a centering pass from Yzerman on a two-man rush, drew the defensemen toward him by drifting right, then whipped a perfect pass for an Yzerman one-timer before goalie Jani Hurme could come across.
Only 20 seconds later, Nicklas Hagman slipped defenseman Rob Blake and took a pass-out from Tomi Kallio to beat Martin Brodeur, but he stopped everything else, increasing the opportunity for Canada to serve crow to all its critics.
Russia 1, Czech Rep. 0
Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 41 shots, outdueling Dominik Hasek as Russia eliminated the defending Olympic champions.
Maxim Afinogenov scored the only goal in the second period. The game wasn’t decided until the frantic final minute, when Khabibulin made a breathtaking series of saves on point-blank chances for the Czechs. Patrik Elias, Petr Sykora and Jaromir Jagr were denied in the final 10 seconds.-AP