USA 6, Finland 1
This American team is impressive. They put up six unanswered goals on the Finnish team in the first period of their semifinal match-up. Team USA figured out Miikka Kiprusoff early for four goals, and pounced on Niklas Backstrom for the other two before he settled in. In the American 6-1 victory, Patrick Kane scored two goals. Kane has play has been just decent before today’s game.
Going into the Olympic tournament, I would have ranked the American national team sixth among the twelve squads participating in the Winter Games – behind Canada, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Finland. I doubt I’m the only one who didn’t think Team USA would get to the gold medal game, but they have played great hockey to get there. A lot of the credit should go to Ryan Miller.
Yes, they were an underdog going into Vancouver, but comparing this American squad to the team that won gold in Lake Placid is getting old. Any parallels drawn between the two are forced. Every player on the roster is a professional in the NHL (none of their opponents to this point can say that) making professional money. Anyway, there is no way Team USA will be overlooked on Sunday.
Canada 3, Slovakia 2
Slovakia’s rally in the third period almost spoiled a USA vs. Canada rematch. The Canadians were cruising to a 3-0 victory over their Slovak opponent until Lubomir Visnovsky scored with just over eight minutes left in the game. Ex-Blackhawk Michal Handzus made it interesting when he added a second goal with five minutes left in the game. The Canadians were able to stave off the Slovak surge for the rest of the period to clinch a gold medal game birth for the team.
The 3-2 semifinal win means a rematch of last Sunday’s USA vs. Canada game will take place this Sunday. Only winning by one goal over Team Slovakia shouldn’t worry anyone. Over the course of the tournament they defeated the Russians in round robin play, and eliminated the Swedes in the quarterfinals.
On the Blackhawk front – of the five that played in this game, none tallied a point.
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