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Olympic hockey tournament - Day 4 recap |
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Olympic hockey is in full swing already, from underdogs playing ''elite'' to best teams facing off against each other. Today was one of those when best faced the best.
First up: Canada - Czechia.
Although Canada came out crushing to start the 1st and quickly earned a man advantage. Which was successful to say the least - Linden Vey's shot was re-directed into the net and Canada took the lead, 1-0. Didn't take long before Czech squad had tied it all up from a goal Dominik Kubalik who was caught Chris Lee napping and beat Scrivens. By the end of the period, Canada had yet another lead in the game as Bourque caught his own rebound and cashed it in to make it 2-1.
2nd period and 25 seconds in the game were all tied up - Michal Jordan former Carolina Hurricane had put it past Ben Scrivens after a scramble in front. Both sides exchanged chances to the point where neither side could get anything done in the regulation or the OT so a shootout would decide who would sit at the top of group A.
Wolski was first one to get onboard in the shootout, but the Czech Republic was quick to respond with two in a row. Petr Koukal and Jan Kovar assured that it was all it took and granted their team a victory (3-2).
USA – Russia
The first period between both teams might have been the most entertaining hockey we have had to witness in the tournament so far. Some rough pushes and shoves, aggressive hockey and heavy hits. You could tell that both teams are out there to win. Unfortunately for Americans opponent struck first at 7:21 of the 1st period, Sergei Mozyakin with an amazing pass to Prokhokrin who was left in front of the net to make it 1-0.
Both teams kept playing active and creating chances, Russia with a quantity while USA’s were more quality. Ryan Donato rang the cross-bar late in the period and that was followed with a penalty by Welch putting their team short-handed with 26.7 seconds left in the frame.
The second period begins with Russia on the powerplay. The US proved that they are a powerhouse penalty killing team in this tournament killing that and one more two minute minor down the stretch. The USA hasn’t allowed a single goal while shorthanded so far in the tournament. They had their chances to play on the powerplay but it wasn’t even remotely good. Russia massively outplayed the opponent all through the period and managed to score a goal doubling their lead, 2-0 as Prokhorkin scored his second of the game. The goal was scored at 2:14 of the frame. Things weren’t looking good for US side but then they got only worse, 0.2 seconds prior to the buzzer that would end the period they had a brutal shift in their defensive zone, Andronov acquired the puck, passed it to Ilya Kovalchuk who then ripped it past Ryan Zapolski makes it 3-0 after 40 minutes of hockey.
Russia wouldn’t sit back to start the third period either, 28 seconds in Slava Voynov with an incredible pass from Russia’s blueline to Kovi who was going in full speed to make it 4-0. The pace of the game dropped massively as the game progressed towards the end. Both sides kept creating chances and playing some fairly physical hockey. Two minutes until the end of period Matt Gilroy took a cross-checking penalty but the score did not change and the game ended 4-0 in favor of Russia.
OTHER:
Switzerland destroyed Korea showing who is the boss, 8-0.
Slovenia - Slovakia went the length with Slovenia winning 3-2 in the shootout.
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