Canada 2 Slovakia 0 - Doughty Whistled for the Game's First Penalty

Written by Joe Tetreault | 26 February 2010

Slovakia's power play has been particularly strong in the tournament which gives them a great opportunity to halve Canada's lead. no comments

Canada 2 Slovakia 0 - Re-Directs Rule the Opening Period

Written by Joe Tetreault | 26 February 2010

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First Intermission Thoughts

Remember the Neutral Zone Trap? That's what much of the half of the first period felt like. An old Devils game, with forwards challenging and harassing the puck carriers in the neutral zone. But it wasn't some system or method of disruption. Sloppy passes, sloppy play, bad stickhandling marked a period where the skaters may as well have been on slush.

The Canadians carried the play, and kept pressure on Jaroslav Halak, but Halak remained steadfast in net. Despite the disproportionate shot totals, with six and a half minutes left the score was still knotted at zero. Shea Weber put the puck towards the net. The high knuckling puck was redirected in air by Patrick Marleau to open the scoring. Halak had good position of Weber's shot, but was totally unprepared for the tip.

Slovakia had an acceptable period disrupting Canada and capitalizing on Candian misplays. But they failed to generate any discernible offensive punch. What's worse that on at least two occasions they showed little taste for a scrum to control the puck in the Canadian end of the ice. They also did a horrendous job of keeping opposing players out of Halak's line of sight with shooters. The mistake of the first Canadian goal came back to haunt Slovakia again.

Chris Pronger sent a drive to the net allowing Brenden Morrow to tip it past Halak. A pair of goals on re-directs gives Slovakia an opportunity for adjustment. However, Canada has worked out their jitters. They will not be as tentative in the second period as they were in the first ten minutes. Halak weathered the softest part of the storm. The real fury is about to begin.

Scoring Summary

13:30 Patrick Marleau from Shea Weber and Scott Niedermayer
15:17 Brenden Morrow from Chris Pronger and Ryan Getzlaf

Penalties

No Penalties in the First Period

Shots

Slovakia 4
Canada 10

Joe Tetreault blogs about sports, culture, business/technology and current events at TetreaultVision in addition to being the Editor for Bloguin's Olympic Hockey Blog.

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Canada 2 Slovakia 0 - Morrow Re-Directs a Pronger Blast Past Halak

Written by Joe Tetreault | 26 February 2010

Brenden Morrow was in the right place to tip a drive by Chris Pronger to give Canada a two goal lead with just under five minutes to go in the first period. no comments

Canada 1 Slovakia 0 - Marleau Helps Canada Break Through

Written by Joe Tetreault | 26 February 2010

Shea Weber sent the puck to the front, right on Patrick Marleau's stick deflecting the puck past Halak. The goal was reviewed to ensure that Marleau's stick was below the plane of the crossbar when he deflected it. The redirect took Halak totally out of position. no comments

Slovakia 0 Canada 0 - Keeping the Old Timers Fresh

Written by Joe Tetreault | 26 February 2010

The Slovakians are the second oldest team in the tournament behind the Finns. With guys like Jozef Stumpel, Miroslav Satan, Ziggy Palffy keeping them fresh is essential. The frequent line changes and substitutions have almost gotten the Slovaks whistled for too many men on the ice, but it's the key to keeping those old guys fresh. no comments

Slovakia 0 Canada 0 - Prizefighters Feeling Each Other Out

Written by Joe Tetreault | 26 February 2010

It's still extraordinary early. Both teams are making poor decisions with passes. Canada seems wound tighter than they have since the USA game. The team that blitzed through the Russians is not out there, yet. no comments

Canada vs. Slovakia Game Preview

Written by Vancity Canuck | 26 February 2010

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Semi-final 2: Canada vs. Slovakia - February 26, 2010 6:30pm PST - Canada Hockey Place

The next test for Team Canada comes against Team Slovakia in the second semi-final game of the day. With most of Canadian fans already looking to a game on Sunday against the Americans, Slovakia may bring a few surprises with their competitiveness tonight. Unlike in the earlier semifinal, both Canada and Slovakia went the qualification playoff route, with Canada winning over Germany and Slovakia winning over Norway. Slovakia advanced to the semifinal after a win over the pre-tournament favorite, Team Sweden who were the 2006 Olympic champions.

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USA 6 Finland 1 - Team USA Advances to Sunday's Gold Medal Game

Written by Joe Tetreault | 26 February 2010

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Game Thoughts

Ryan Miller came off with just over eleven and a half minutes to play. A standing ovation was in order. His last 110 minutes of play had been an unblemished exhibition of goalie perfection. And though Tim Thomas was fooled on Antti Miettinen's blast that deflected off Jack Johnson, the US played a near perfect sixty minutes of hockey in what felt an awful lot like a NHL playoff game./p>

Team USA never looked back after their first period explosion. And though they didn't score after Stastny's goal, they played stifling defense, leaving Finland stunned and defeated from the early going. Unlike the previous contests where Miller's expertise was needed to keep the US in the game, they jumped out and scored and took Finland out of it.

A fantastic sixty minutes of hockey for team USA. It was as a complete a performance as we've seen from them in these Olympics. And they will need another sixty minutes just like it to bring home the gold.

Team USA has clinched a medal for the second time in the last three winter games. They await the winner of the Canada-Slovakia game.

Gold Medal game is set for Sunday at noon pacific time, 3 pm eastern time.