Breathe Canada, breathe . . . at least until the next one.
An instant classic?
A stress-filled hand-wringer?
You betcha.
Team Canada fended off the heebie jeebies late in a shaky quarter-final set-to with Czechia and now moves on to the men’s Olympic hockey semi-final. That 4-3 overtime win on Wednesday – courtesy of a Mitchell Marner beauty – was looking like pure tragedy when the opposition tallied late in the third to nab a 3-2 lead.
But Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki deftly deflected a shot from the point with 3:29 left to send the game to OT. Then it was over to Marner who ducked and weaved through three Czechia skaters and backhanded the puck past stopper Lukas Dostal early in the extra session.
It should be noted that Dostal was outstanding throughout the game. Also worthy of mention was the play of Jordan Binnington who, as one of the analysts mentioned, slipped on his Superman outfit and stood on his noggin late in the game with Czechia pressing.
Meantime, those critical of Marner’s abilities in ‘the big moment’ must be pretty quiet after this one. As you’ll remember, it was Marner who also lifted Canada past Sweden last year around this time with an overtime winner at 4 Nations.
Also, those critical of the inclusion of 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini on the Canadian team are silenced. The San Jose Shark forward scored against Czechia and added the primary assist on Marner’s tally.
He’s been sensational.
Canada did take a significant hit though as captain Sidney Crosby left the game after taking a big hit from Radko Gudas.
Canada now waits for the result of Wednesday’s late game (United States vs. Sweden) to see who they’ll get in the semi-finals. If the Swedes win, that will be Canada’s opponent. If the US prevails, our nation’s best will face the winner of Switzerland and Finland.
If you weren’t charged by Wednesday’s classic, as head coach Jon Cooper quipped – you haven’t got a pulse.
And there’s more to come.
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
Photo: Yahoo Sports
