Sunday, January 27, 2002
Salo a golden boy, for now
By MIKE ZEISBERGER -- Toronto Sun
EDMONTON -- This time Tommy Salo bested Curtis Joseph.
Will the result be any different when the two goaltenders potentially face each other next month at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City? All of Canada certainly hopes so.
The first game in Salt Lake for Joseph and Team Canada will be against Salo, Mats Sundin and Team Sweden. Last night, in a battle of Olympic goaltenders, Salo came out ahead, stopping 22 Maple Leaf shots en route to second star honours in Edmonton's 4-1 win at the Skyreach Centre.
"It'll be an interesting tournament, for sure," Salo said of the Olympics. "Canada, the Swedes, there will be a number of good teams who will have a shot (at gold)."
Asked whether he and Sundin exchanged greetings, Salo replied, "Not really. We might say hello when we see each other but we'll get a chance to spend more time together once the tournament gets going."
For the time being, Salo is concentrating on the woes of his struggling Oilers, who came in to action last night with a poor 3-7-1 record in the new year.
"We needed a win badly," he said. "It's hard to think about the Olympics right now with the way we've been playing here lately."
The offensive stud of the night was forward Mike Comrie whose father, Bill, is the founder of the Brick furniture stores. Comrie scored the first two goals of the game including the go ahead marker at 8:28 of the third period that put the Oilers up 2-1.
"When you're trying to get out of a slump, you'll take them any way you can," he said. "We battled hard, and it finally paid off.
"This win was a huge relief."
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
