Monday, February 18, 2002
Canada escapes with win
Germans make surprising challenge
By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Team Sun
PROVO, Utah -- As Martin Brodeur walked to Canada's dressing room late last night, he let out a huge sigh of relief.
That about summed it up.
Last night didn't go quite the way Team Canada would have scripted it -- playing without captain Mario Lemieux -- but it will take the 3-2 victory over Germany in front of a boisterous, flag-waving, mostly Canadian crowd at the Peaks Ice Arena.
Coming off a horrifying 5-2 loss to the Swedes in Friday's opener, a Canadian team that looked tentative at times came to life with goals from Joe Sakic, Paul Kariya and Adam Foote, while goalie Martin Brodeur got his first Olympic win in a nail-biter.
"Look, it doesn't matter if we won 3-2 or 8-0. A win is a win and a loss is a loss," said defenceman Chris Pronger. "It doesn't matter to the Czechs that they only lost 2-1 (to Sweden yesterday). We got the win.
"That was a tough game for us. They didn't give us a whole lot of room out there. No, it wasn't pretty. But we got away with the win ... that's going to help is our confidence going into the next game."
As Pronger said, it wasn't pretty. It was also far from perfect and probably has fans back home even more worried going into tonight's game against the Czechs.
With a 3-0 lead going into the third period, Canada had a tough time holding on as Brodeur gave up goals to Andreas Loth and Jochen Hecht, letting the Germans back into the game. But the Canucks are trying to make positive adjustments before the medal round.
Feeling better
"It felt a lot better, but I think we've still got a lot of work to do," said Kariya. "The most important thing about this game is that we got a little bit better.
"We've got to get better offensively because we're going to come up against some tough teams."
The Canadians need to put it together quick, as they face what has almost become a must-win against the Czechs tonight (6 p.m.) at the E Center.
A win would likely set up a quarter-final matchup against Finland. Should the Canadians lose, they'll be on a collision course to face the Russians -- not the matchup they want.
Coach Pat Quinn made it clear last night's victory was far from perfect.
"We're not on top of our game right now. We're fanning on passes and fanning on taking shots," he said.
"We've got defencemen who are thinking before they move the puck to other defencemen ... We've got guys who are thinking we've got an 82-game NHL schedule here. We don't. We're at the Olympics and we don't have much time."
While goaltender Marc Seliger kept the Germans in the game most of the night, it got really interesting after Hecht got them within a goal at 3-2. Nobody expected a game against a German team recently thrown together would be this close.
"Four days ago, we weren't playing together and right now we're just trying to get used to each other," said Canadian winger Theoren Fleury.
"I wasn't worried when they got it to 3-2. I knew we could hold on.
"I look at our defence. How many Norris Trophy winners do we have back there and how many Conn Smyth winners are on this team? We're going to be okay.
"We just have to keep going in the right direction."
Perhaps last night was a baby step, but they need to take a giant leap tonight against the Czechs -- and that's not going to be easy.
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
