Olympic Pool Update (Day 6, Feb 18)

I suppose it would depend on how you had these two teams pictured going into the qualification game, but Slovenia and Austria went into their match-up with an identical record of 1-0-0-2, with goal differentials that were not too far apart either.

I would have favoured the hot hand of Michael Grabner of Austria over Anze Kopitar of Slovenia, heading into this game, but the team defense of the Slovenians proved to be impenetrable, as they came away with a 4-0 win and the right to face Sweden in tomorrow's Quarterfinal game.

Kopitar opened the scoring for Slovenia in the first six minutes of the game, proving to be the winner and his only 2 points of the game.  His teammates provided the rest of the offense and it was a team effort on defense that proved to be enough to overcome Austria.

They will be in tough, however, against the Swedes, who have looked quite good.  Nevertheless, Kopitar and his two teams that picked him, still have an active body going into the next round of the tournament.

After a poor showing in the round robin, the host Russians started the slightly longer trek to the medal round with a qualification game against Norway on Tuesday.

The Norwegians didn't appear to roll over for the hosts, as they kept the game scoreless through one period, but couldn't keep the favourites off the board in the 2nd period, allowing a couple goals, digging themselves a hole, which they couldn't get out of.

The Russians didn't hold their foot on the gas pedal, rather they held out until an empty-netter to go up 3-0 and then added another one, 27 second later, to finish the game with a 4-0 final.

After a public shaming from the Russian head coach, Alexander Radulov had really stepped up his game, scoring the shootout winner a couple days previous and then picking up 2 goals, including the winner, and an assist for a 4-point game.  Sergei Bobrovsky, who got the start for the Russians, also had a 4-point game, earning the shutout on 22 saves.  Pavel Datsyuk was no slouch either, picking up 3 assists in the game, which made a lot of people happy in the pool.

The Russians earned a date with the Finns on Wednesday in the Quarterfinals, a tough test for a team that hasn't got all of their cylinders firing.

An injury note from the Norwegians, as their only NHLer on the team, Mats Zuccarello, suffered a hand injury and was not able to go in this game.  I don't think he would have helped the end result, but this injury may be of note, when the NHL regular season kicks back into gear.

We did have one absolute upset, as Switzerland, who went 2-0-0-1 in the round robin, only allowing one goal in the process, were up against the 0-0-0-3 Latvians, and couldn't do the job.  The Swiss dropped a 3-1 decision to their lesser opponents in the shock result of the tournament.

Latvia were not the worst team in the round robin in the offensive department, scoring 5 goals in their three games, but they were far from expected to be able to penetrate the Swiss goal line, with Jonas Hiller in net, yet to allow a goal in the tournament.  Sure enough, Latvia gets on the board in the middle of the opening frame, adds a brace a few minutes later, and with a 2-0 lead after one, the underdogs were in control.

The Swiss tried to make a push, outshooting the Latvians, 22-13 in the final two periods, but they only managed a single goal, late in the 2nd period and that would be as close as they came.  Latvia added an empty-netter in the late stages and it was a 3-1 final.

Latvia goes on to face Canada in the Quarters and there were absolutely no points dispersed in the pool standings from this game.

For the chance to play the USA in the Quarterfinals, the Czech Republic and Slovakia went head-to-head in an old time rivalry battle.

The Czechs, who finished the round robin with a 1-0-0-2 record, were only marginal favourites from their border cousins, who finished win-less in three games.

Ales Hemsky, Roman Cervenka and David Krejci made it 3-0 in the 1st period for the Czechs, Cervenka added a 4th goal in the 2nd period and it appeared that this game was going to be a cake walk.

The Slovaks clawed back, however, as Marian Hossa scored late in the 2nd to get on the board, again 7:20 minutes in the 3rd and then Tom Surovy made it 4-3, 3:16 later.  Unfortunately, that was as close as the Slovaks got, as Tomas Plekanec added an empty-netter and the Czechs came away as 5-3 winners.

The only Czech taken in the pool, at least once, who had a multiple-point game, was Krejci, who was taken three times.  Most of the other players taken in the pool were held pointless.

It is beginning to seem highly unlikely that anyone is going to catch Rob A.'s teams, as either one did a hell of a job picking out the point-producers for Canada and Sweden.  Rob's first team finished in the lead again on Tuesday, carrying a 3-point lead over his second team and a 7-point lead over 3rd place, Lee's team.

Marc B. and Wes M. were the top teams on the day, finishing with 11 points each.  Marc finished the day in 7th place, 9 points out of 1st, and Wes finished in 12th, 12 points back.