SI picks Czechs

[espo*]

I actually just finished re-watching that game in its entireity so that I would get my facts straight.

Here are the facts.

Team Canada skipped the skate before the game day.

Team Canada came out really flat and was outplayed by the Czech in the first period leading Harry Neale to say that Patrick is the reason for the scoreless tie so far.

Ron MacLean interviewed Lindros who was the captain of this team ( ) during the first intermission.

Lindros said that Patrick kept them in the game so far and that they have to generate offense by going to the net.

Ron then asked if skipping the skate the day before is the result of Canada playing so badly.

Lindros the punk got pissed and said "It doesn't matter what we did yesterday. We've got to win this sucker." and then walked off leaving Maclean flabbergasted.

Second period was a little bit better but Czechs still outplayed Canada which led Theo Fleury to say in the 2nd intermission interview that Canada played well for first 15 minutes and then started running around in the last 5 minutes.

Theo also said that Czechs are playing a "conservative game with the third man high".

At about 10 minute mark in 3rd, Jiri Sleger scored from the point. At that point, the shots on net was 24 to 16 for Czechs with Czechs holding many more quality scoring chances and holding Canada within their territory for long periods of time.

As time ticked down, they kept showing Janet Gretzky and the two hotties with her getting anxious in the stands. Neale and Cole start talking as if the game is over.

With 1:03 left to go (18:53 on the clock since international clock goes the other way) MacInness blasts a howitser at Hasek point blank from about 10 feet away but Hasek blocks it and Lindros picks it up from behind the goal line and dumps it out front where Linden shoots along the ice where Hasek is already covering with hi pads but then it gets deflected accidently by a Czech player and goes high on Hasek for the tying goal.

Everyone is up and celebrating. To be fair Linden didn't thump his chest as I remember it...but is excessive in celebration to say that he scored. Brandon Shanahan was more teary eyed thatn bawling as I remember it. The mind is a funny thing sometimes.

They go into OT where Czechs basically play for the shoot out by sitting back and not letting Canada get any quality chances. Canada is getting stronger and one of their D gets hurt.

They go to shoot out.

Robert Reichel is the first shooter and beats Roy. Realstinky, Pavel Patera and Jagr are all stopped by Roy.

Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque, Joey Kneeondyke, Lindros (hits the post), and Shanny all miss.

Gretzky sits alone in the players bench after the arena has cleared still in disbelief of what has just happened.

I sit alone with my little girl and cry all over again.

hey,you went to a lot of work there to do this,good job.But even the way you put it here,that is hardly badly outplayed.Ah well,we lost so thats the main thing.

Hurt like hell.

 

[svetovy poharu]

Slavomir Lenr, head coach of the '98 Czech team, said his players routinely practiced penalty shots during team workouts saying: "It's fun for the players, kind of relaxing." While Canadian coach Marc Crawford said his team only began practicing penalty shots just before their game against Kazakhstan.

Crawford said of his shootout choices: "You go with your gut instinct. We did consider using Wayne Gretzky, but we prepared a list before the game." Some questioned Crawford's use of defenceman Bourque in the shootout instead of using centres Gretzky or Yzerman. But Crawford said "Ray is great on breakaways."
Yzerman said he had no problem with the selection saying "I would not second-guess or question any of the guys picked." There was technically no argument with Crawford's choices in the shootout. Only Lindros though really came close to scoring.
Shanahan tried what Jagr later suggested is futile. Against Hasek, just shoot it, Jagr said. But Shanahan faked, went right, to the post and had nowhere to go with his shot but Hasek's pad.

Lener said of Reichel, "I know most of his hockey history and I don't remember that he's ever missed on a penalty shot."

For what it's worth, here is the boxscore from that game:

CZE: (G) Hasek -- (DEF Pairs) Smehlik-Slegr, Hamrlik-Svoboda, Spacek-Kucera --
(FWD Lines) Jagr-Ruzicka-Straka -- Rucinsky-Reichel-Lang -- Moravec-Dopita-Beranek -- Hejduk-Patera-M. Prochazka

CAN: (G) Roy -- (DEF Pairs) Foote-Pronger, Blake-Bourque, MacInnis-Stevens --
(FWD Lines) Brind'Amour-Lindros-Corson -- Zamuner-Nieuwendyk-Fleury --
Recchi-Primeau-Linden -- Shanahan-Gretzky-Yzerman

FIRST PERIOD: Scoring -- none. Penalties -- Beranek (CZE) interference, 5:33.
Svoboda (CZE) high-sticking, 17:39.

SECOND PERIOD: Scoring -- none. Penalties -- Linden (CAN) slashing, 17:25.

THIRD PERIOD: 1. (CZE) Slegr (Patera), 9:46. 2. (CAN) Linden (Lindros), 18:57.
Penalties -- none.

10-minute OVERTIME: Scoring -- none. Penalties -- none.

SHOOTOUT: CZE 1, CAN 0.
CZE 1. Reichel (goal), 2. Smehlik (miss), 3. Patera (miss), 4. Jagr (miss)
CAN 1. Fleury (miss), 2. Bourque (miss), 3. Nieuwendyk (miss), 4. Lindros (miss), 5. Shanahan (miss)

SHOTS ON GOAL: CZE (5-14-8-1 = 28), CAN (3-11-6-5 = 25)

GOALIES: CZE Hasek 70:00, 25-24, 1 GA....CAN Roy 70:00, 28-27, 1 GA

PENALTIES: CZE (2-4:00), CAN (1-2:00)
POWER-PLAYS: CZE (0-1, 2:00 ppt), CAN (0-2, 4:00 ppt)

OFFICIALS: Referee Bill McCreary (CAN), Linesmen Janne Rautavuori (FIN), Kevin Collins (USA)

Attendance: 9,854

 

[David]

hey,you went to a lot of work there to do this,good job.But even the way you put it here,that is hardly badly outplayed.Ah well,we lost so thats the main thing.

Hurt like hell.

No, Canada was pretty badly outplayed during all of first period, almost half of 2nd, and 2/3 of the third and Canada should have been down 4 - 0 except for Roy's solid positional play. He was so square to the puck that everything was just bouncing off his chest and he was even making those really tough bouncers look easy!

That's why Cole and Neale and Lindros and Fleury were all saying that Patrick is keeping them in.

Also, that's why the shots on net on the graphic literally a second before the Czech goal was 24 to 16 for Czechs...when Neale and Cole were talking about how solid Patrick was...and then the shot on net effectively became 25 to 16 when they scored.

This shows that Canada was being outplayed but if you watch it, you'll see exactly how badly they were being outplayed. And then the final shots on net total of as posted in the box score tells you that Canada dominated in the last minutes of 3rd and in OT where Czech basically admitted to sitting back so that they can go to a shoot out.

And yes, it still hurts...that is why, we cannot go into Turin thinking the same things as we did in Nagano. That Czech team is gonna be a b1tch to beat!!!

 

[SChan*]

for canada this tourney means a lot, and the same could be said for sweden, finland and the czechs. The US fans generally doesn't have the same interest, that's why some say that the olympic is a meaningless tournament and that players should stay home and rest for NHL playoffs.

 

[espo*]

No, Canada was pretty badly outplayed during all of first period, almost half of 2nd, and 2/3 of the third and Canada should have been down 4 - 0 except for Roy's solid positional play. He was so square to the puck that everything was just bouncing off his chest and he was even making those really tough bouncers look easy!

That's why Cole and Neale and Lindros and Fleury were all saying that Patrick is keeping them in.

Also, that's why the shots on net on the graphic literally a second before the Czech goal was 24 to 16 for Czechs...when Neale and Cole were talking about how solid Patrick was...and then the shot on net effectively became 25 to 16 when they scored.

This shows that Canada was being outplayed but if you watch it, you'll see exactly how badly they were being outplayed. And then the final shots on net total of as posted in the box score tells you that Canada dominated in the last minutes of 3rd and in OT where Czech basically admitted to sitting back so that they can go to a shoot out.

And yes, it still hurts...that is why, we cannot go into Turin thinking the same things as we did in Nagano. That Czech team is gonna be a b1tch to beat!!!

I guess sh well,different year this time around.Yesterdays gone,thank God.

 

[DevilFisch]

Petr Prucha just got hurt tonight against Philly, looks like he'll miss the Olympics.

This opens the door for Elias or Sykora to be named.

If I'm running the Czech team, I'd do everything possible to get Elias on this team. He has been spectacular with NJ since his return, and he's even learned how to make big hits. Sure, a bit of a homer pick, but I sincerely do think adding Elias to the Czech team only strengths them moreso than Sykora (who has been playing better in NY than in Anaheim, it seems).

 

[wildone26*]

SI thinks that Czechs are gonna win gold because Ryan Miller won't be there to out duel Hasek!


Seriously though, I do think that the Czech may be the team to beat again this year. Canada hasn't beaten Czechs in the last two Olympics.

Remember that in the Nagano, Canada was badly out played by the Czechs in regulation and only managed to tie it up late in the 3rd on a flukely Trevor Linden goal. The only reason why Canada didn't get blown out in that game was because Patrick Roy out played Hasek...and then let in one more goal than Hasek on the shootouts.

In Salt Lake City, Canada tied the Czechs 3:3.

And this time around, half of the damn Czechs have been gelling together in NY with the Rangers for the whole year while Canada will be scrambling to learn to play with each other esp. during the first week.

It will be interesting but it would be a BIG mistake for Canada to go into Turin thinking that they are the ones to beat in this tournament. If we do, we didn't learn anything from that Nagano fiasco!!!!

Roy badly outplayed Hasek, LOL! Hasek was the goalie of the 98 Olympic touranment from start to finish. Roy was also good in Nagano but could not hold Hasek's jock strap at that event, actually in general from 94-99 Hasek was by far the Worlds best goalie. Canada actually outplayed the Czechs somewhat in that semifinal, although both teams were incredable, Canada dictated just a bit more, Hasek stole that game, not the other way around.

You must be thinking of the 2004 World Cup where the Czechs outplayed Canada in the semis but Luongo outdueled an uncharacteristicaly shaky Vokoun to give Canada the win.

 

[David]

Hasek stole that game, not the other way around.

Who are you again???

You must be thinking of the 2004 World Cup

You must not be thinking. Go watch the game if you have it.

 

[wildone26*]

Who are you again???



You must not be thinking. Go watch the game if you have it.

I saw the game, you point out shots on goals, but shots on goal are often totally deceptive to who was controling the play. The Canadians absolutely controled most of the game, the Czechs maybe only controled more of the first period, that is it. You have no basis for Roy totally outplaying Hasek in that game, that is baloney, how can you be totally outplayed when the only goal you let in is with less than 2 minutes left, unless you end up losing the game on that one goal. Grezxty after the Canadians semifinal win over the Czechs in the World Cup this year, while not referring to goaltenders in any specific way, and since Canadians think Roy is some god I suspect it would pain him to much to refer to Hasek's superiority at the time, did point out he remembers feeling unlucky to lose that Oly semi 6 years ago since he thought Canada had outplayed the Czechs and still lost(hmmm I wonder why)but in this game the Czechs had probably outplayed Canada so it it was a bit of makeup for that in a way(as it turned out the Czechs lost this game because Vokoun was not as good as Luongo in it).

NOBODY thought Roy was the best goalie at the Nagano Olympics at the time, no expert on the game anyway. All the sports and hockey magazine were raving about Haseks performance in Nagano, saying how he won the Czechs the gold medal, how he was by far the best goalie in the tournament, and best goalie in the World at the time, Roy was hardly mentioned at all, even though he also had a great tournament, he was completely outshone by Hasek in Nagano and that is a fact. When people think of Roy they think what an incredable goalie he is of course, but in the couple weeks of Olympic fevor thinking right after Nagano it was Hasek "the dominator", Roy "who"?

 

[espo*]

I saw the game, you point out shots on goals, but shots on goal are often totally deceptive to who was controling the play. The Canadians absolutely controled most of the game, the Czechs maybe only controled more of the first period, that is it. You have no basis for Roy totally outplaying Hasek in that game, that is baloney, how can you be totally outplayed when the only goal you let in is with less than 2 minutes left, unless you end up losing the game on that one goal. Grezxty after the Canadians semifinal win over the Czechs in the World Cup this year, while not referring to goaltenders in any specific way, and since Canadians think Roy is some god I suspect it would pain him to much to refer to Hasek's superiority at the time, did point out he remembers feeling unlucky to lose that Oly semi 6 years ago since he thought Canada had outplayed the Czechs and still lost(hmmm I wonder why)but in this game the Czechs had probably outplayed Canada so it it was a bit of makeup for that in a way(as it turned out the Czechs lost this game because Vokoun was not as good as Luongo in it).

NOBODY thought Roy was the best goalie at the Nagano Olympics at the time, no expert on the game anyway. All the sports and hockey magazine were raving about Haseks performance in Nagano, saying how he won the Czechs the gold medal, how he was by far the best goalie in the tournament, and best goalie in the World at the time, Roy was hardly mentioned at all, even though he also had a great tournament, he was completely outshone by Hasek in Nagano and that is a fact. When people think of Roy they think what an incredable goalie he is of course, but in the couple weeks of Olympic fevor thinking right after Nagano it was Hasek "the dominator", Roy "who"?

Thats how i remeber that gme too.It was about dead even through three with Canada controlling play in overtime,Roy had to do nothing special except win that shoot-out................the czechs did'nt even think of attacking in that game at all,they just moderately counterpunched when they could which was'nt often with Canada's solid defense(as was the czechs,we did'nt get many chances either).
i just HAVE to watch that game again.The way he paints it sounds nothing lke i remember it at all and i remember it pretty well.Though i'd like to forget it.

 

[jekoh]

All the sports and hockey magazine were raving about Haseks performance in Nagano, saying how he won the Czechs the gold medal,

The same "experts" that were predicting a Canada-USA final and didn't regard Czechia as a contender before the tournament ?

 

[espo*]

The same "experts" that were predicting a Canada-USA final and didn't regard Czechia as a contender before the tournament ?

Probably.

 

[David]

I saw the game, you point out shots on goals, but shots on goal are often totally deceptive to who was controling the play. The Canadians absolutely controled most of the game, the Czechs maybe only controled more of the first period, that is it. You have no basis for Roy totally outplaying Hasek in that game, that is baloney, how can you be totally outplayed when the only goal you let in is with less than 2 minutes left, unless you end up losing the game on that one goal. Grezxty after the Canadians semifinal win over the Czechs in the World Cup this year, while not referring to goaltenders in any specific way, and since Canadians think Roy is some god I suspect it would pain him to much to refer to Hasek's superiority at the time, did point out he remembers feeling unlucky to lose that Oly semi 6 years ago since he thought Canada had outplayed the Czechs and still lost(hmmm I wonder why)but in this game the Czechs had probably outplayed Canada so it it was a bit of makeup for that in a way(as it turned out the Czechs lost this game because Vokoun was not as good as Luongo in it).

NOBODY thought Roy was the best goalie at the Nagano Olympics at the time, no expert on the game anyway. All the sports and hockey magazine were raving about Haseks performance in Nagano, saying how he won the Czechs the gold medal, how he was by far the best goalie in the tournament, and best goalie in the World at the time, Roy was hardly mentioned at all, even though he also had a great tournament, he was completely outshone by Hasek in Nagano and that is a fact. When people think of Roy they think what an incredable goalie he is of course, but in the couple weeks of Olympic fevor thinking right after Nagano it was Hasek "the dominator", Roy "who"?

Go watch the game.

Harry Neale, Bob Cole, Eric Lindros, and even Don Cherry and Ron MacLean mention how Roy was keeping Canada in the game with his great play because the Czechs were dominating.

It's not about shots on goal only. I went and rewatched the game so that I can have the fact straight. Why don't you go back and rewatch it and then come talk to me. By the way, I want a step by step recount as I have provided so that I know that you are on the up and up.

In the semi-final game against the Czechs, Pat Roy far out played Hasek. The only thing that Roy did worse than Hasek was let in one shoot out goal.