Canada meets Sweden for gold !!!

[Cactus]

GO CANADA GO!!!!

[PCguy]

Is this Euro football?

[Cactus]

PRAGUE (CP) - The Whitby Dunlops and Belleville McFarlands may soon have company.
A win over Sweden in Sunday's gold medal game would give Canada its first back-to-back men's world hockey titles since 1958-1959, when amateur clubs represented the country at this event.

And there's more history up for grabs. Team Canada has never repeated as gold medallists since NHL players began playing at the world championship in 1977, having won gold in 1994, 1997 and 2003.

"It's huge for Canada," captain Ryan Smyth said. "I've heard from players that have won the Stanley Cup, to repeat is the toughest thing to do.

"We have an opportunity to repeat and it would be a great feeling to finish it off right."

In a rematch of last year's gold medal game in which Anson Carter's overtime goal sank the Swedes 3-2, the Canadians will again be the underdog to Peter Forsberg's talented squad, which downed the United States 3-2 in the other semifinal Saturday.

But who would have ever thought Canada would even get to the final?

The team was rocked on the eve of its first game with the loss of head coach Joel Quenneville after he fell ill. Canada opened with a 2-2 tie to lowly Austria and barely beat laughable France 3-0.

And just when things were getting on track, the Canadian team entered the medal round with its tail between its legs after a 6-2 drubbing by the Czech Republic in the final round-robin game.

Few would have predicted Thursday's 5-4 quarter-final win over Finland and Saturday's 2-1 semifinal victory over talented Slovakia.

"I'll be honest with you, it was a little weird here the first week with the coaching change and everything going on," said centre Daniel Briere, who kickstarted Canada with his goal Saturday.

"It seemed everything was going the wrong way at the beginning. On the ice, we weren't playing well, our power play was atrocious, nothing was going right for us.

"But that's the thing about Canadians, I've been here two years and we just find ways to get it done."

The Canadian team demonstrated resiliency in coming from behind in both the quarter-final and semifinal.

Canada was quickly down 2-0 to Finland and trailed three times before winning in overtime. The team trailed again 1-0 on Saturday on a fluky goal by Miroslav Satan, but fought their way back with Brier's power-play goal to equalize and Shawn Horcoff's winner 6:10 into the third period.

"That's the Canadian character right there," said goaltender Roberto Luongo. "We had a lot of things going against us. We just stuck together as a team. And now here we are in the final again."

The semifinal win also guaranteed Canada would keep its No. 1 ranking in the world regardless of Sunday's outcome, meaning the Canadians will be the top seed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

But Canada's entry into the final didn't come without controversy. Horcoff's goal came a moment after Slovak netminder Jan Lasak had fallen behind the net where he had gone to clear the puck.

Rob Niedermayer of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks drove behind the net and his stick made contact with Lasak's left pad. Lasak went down and was late getting back into his crease, leaving an near empty net for Horcoff to bang home a loose puck in front after Steve Staios sent it in from the blue-line.

"I was just going in on the forecheck, I don't know what happened," said Niedermayer. "I didn't really knick him at all. He was flopping all game."

The Slovaks vehemently complained to American referee Rick Looker after the goal while thousands of Slovak fans pelted the ice with debris, delaying the game for a few minutes.

"I was trying to play the puck and he tripped me from behind," said Lasak. "There should have been a call. That was a big shock for me.

"In a 2-1 game, it really hurts," Lasak continued. "I don't want to blame the referee for everything. We did have three power plays after that. But I just don't think we should lose that way."

Looker tried to appease the pro-Slovak crowd of 17,204 at Sazka Arena by calling three consecutive minor penalties against the Canadians, but Luongo slammed the door with several point-blank saves. He made 16 of his 28 saves in the third period.

"The guys have done an unbelievable job in being resilient and finding a way," said Canadian head coach Mike Babcock. "And I think today was our best game by far, we played like a team.

"Even though they went up 1-0, I didn't think the game was in doubt."

Babcock matched up his checking line of Horcoff, Niedermayer and Matt Cooke against Slovakia's dangerous top unit of Marian Hossa, Pavel Demitra and Lubos Bartecko.

It worked. Not only did Horcoff score the game-winner, but Hossa and Demitra were kept under wraps for the most part with intense checking.

"I thought we did a really good job on Hossa and Demitra," said Horcoff. "We were patient, got the puck in deep. We played in their end a lot and when you do that you limit their offensive chances."

The Slovaks had the lone scoring chance of the first period. Demitra was stopped on a clear breakaway seven minutes into the game by a solid pad save from Luongo.

Slovakia opened the scoring only 10 seconds into the second period, thanks to a fortunate break. Martin Strbak's dump-in bounced strangely off the back boards and over the net right to a wide-open Satan, who one-timed a shot past a stunned Luongo.

"Yeah, they get that crappy one off the glass," said Babcock. "We've given up some ugly goals in the tournament. And you say: 'How does that happen?' It should only happen once. But our guys didn't get rattled."

Instead of giving the Slovaks momentum, the goal seem to energize the Canadians, who forechecked more aggressively and took control of the game.

Canada's forecheck ultimately forced the Slovaks into an interference penalty and Briere made it count, rifling a slapshot to the top corner over Lasak's glove side to tie it 1-1 at 12:18 as the Canadian bench jumped to its feet in celebration.

They were on their way to booking their trip to the final.

[lilpinkflower]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*Jane wakes up*

av ya finished yet ???

hehe


ony jestin lol


Why DO men find sport sooooo fascinatin ???

lilpink x

[Cactus]

Prague — These guys just don't quit.

Jay Bouwmeester of the Florida Panthers broke a 3-3 tie 20 seconds into the third period Sunday as Team Canada rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits to beat Sweden 5-3, capturing its second straight gold medal at the world hockey championship.

And they did in nearly the same fashion as last year in Helsinki, falling behind 2-0 to the Swedes before charging back.

Matt Cooke of the Vancouver Canucks, Rob Niedermayer of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Dany Heatley of the Atlanta Thrashers and captain Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers also scored for Canada (7-1-1), who captured back-to-back world championships for the first time since the Whitby Dunlops (1958) and Belleville McFarlands (1959) turned the trick nearly half a century ago.

The back-to-back gold medals also give Canada four world titles since 1977, the year NHL players began playing in the tournament (1994 and '97 as well).

Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators, Swedish league star Andreas Salomonsson and former Toronto Maple Leaf Jonas Hoglund replied for Sweden, who suffered its first loss of the tournament (6-1-2).

Netminder Roberto Luongo of the Panthers recovered from a shaky start to stand tall once again for Canada, stopping 28 shots. The Swedes have had just about enough of Luongo, who made 37 saves in last year's gold medal final.

At the other end of the spectrum, 22-year-old goalie Henrik Lundqvist, a New York Rangers prospect who had been the surprise of the tournament for Sweden, crumbled after Canada tied the game in the second period.

Canada's No. 1 objective was to limit superstar Peter Forsberg as much as possible, and Shawn Horcoff's checking line with Niedermayer and Cooke did just that, keeping the Colorado Avalanche centre to one assist.

With the win, star defencemen Scott Niedermayer of the New Jersey Devils became the 14th player all-time to win a world championship, Olympic gold and a Stanley Cup ring. Joe Sakic, Rob Blake and Brendan Shanahan are the only other Canadians in the select club.

But it didn't look promising early on Sunday.

It was just the kind of start for Canada that head coach Mike Babcock surely had nightmares about.

The Swedes came charging out of the gates and were up 2-0 less than eight minutes into the first period, Hoglund finding the top shelf over a screened Luongo during a Sweden power play and Alfredsson finding the inside of the post on a breakaway.

Forsberg set up the Alfredsson goal with a long pass down the middle, the Canadians looking confused as they tried to get the Horcoff checking line on the ice to match up with the superstar Swede.

Smyth restored hope at 13:58, shovelling a Brendan Morrison pass from behind the net into an open net after the Vancouver Canucks centre forced Lundqvist to commit on a deke.

Canada came out stronger in the second period, the passes crisper and on the tape, the decisions more confident.

And Daniel Briere thought he had tied it 2-2, his slapshot beating a screened Lundqvist but ramming off the crossbar.

The Swedes came charging back down on a 2-on-1 after the near miss, Hoglund feeding Salomonsson for a one-timer that Luongo was slow to react to and got beat top corner on the glove side.

It was 3-1 and several Canadian players on the bench were slouched over in disbelief.

Then came Superman. Heatley took a long, looping pass from Bouwmeester and cut in from the right boards and lifted a shot over Lundqvist's left shoulder and just under the cross-bar to make it 3-2 at 14:44. It was his tournament-leading eighth goal.

The Canadian bench erupted, its confidence restored.

Horcoff's checking line came off the bench and kept the pressure on in the Swedish zone, and it paid off when Niedermayer beat Lundqvist on a backhand from in-close and suddenly it was 3-3 just 52 seconds after Heatley's goal.

And more importantly, Lundqvist appeared to have his confidence cracked.

He did. Bouwmeester scored the winner right off the bat in the third period, his wrist shot from the left side beating Lundqvist five-hole and Canada had its first lead of the game.

Cooke gave Canada an important insurance marker midway through the period, re-directing a nifty cross-ice pass from Rob Niedermayer over a sprawled Lundqvist.

It was 5-3, and the game was over. The Swedes were stunned and the Canadians would not let them back in the game.

Also Sunday, the United States won a surprise bronze after defeating Slovakia 1-0 in a shootout, giving both North American countries a medal in the same world championship for the first time since 1996.

[lilpinkflower]

no wayyyyyyyyyy !!!!

sumone tie dat man up quik lol

i'll get the strait jakket redy

hehe

u love to wind me up lol

lilpink x

[PCguy]

[lilpinkflower]

*groans* hehe

actually we don't av baseball in da u.k

WOOOOOHOOOOOO !!!!!


there's not much thats part of any man's life tho really..is there??

or am i bein sexist?? haha

nooooo men r wonderful.... in moderation lol (like sport lol)

lilpink x

[Cactus]

Yup!! I like baseball.......

Go Jays Go!!

heehee

No team in the Rockies though...

[slyoldfox]

Excellent analysis of the game Cactus. Imagine if Don Cherry was to go into politics there would be a job opening. You should apply. You would look good sitting beside Don McClean.

[CaptainAnarchy]

Hockey all the way!!! ive played hockey since I was 7 and i don't see myself stopping anytime soon!

[Herm862001]