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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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Canada wins Olympic opener 5-0 over Belarus
(Big Hat, Nagano City)
14:45 USA 2-4 SWE
18:45 CAN 5-0 BLR
(Aqua Wing, Nagano City)
14:45 FIN 0-3 CZE
18:45 KAZ 2-9 RUS
Canada wins Olympic opener 5-0 over Belarus
Canada cruised to a 5-0 victory over Belarus on Friday in its opening game of the final round of the men's ice hockey tournament of the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
In a game that served as a warm-up for the jet-lagged Canadians, who will face much stiffer competition Saturday against Sweden, the margin could have been bigger if not for the fine play of Belarus goalkeeper Andrei Mezin.
Eric Lindros, the captain of the Canadian team, lead the Canadians in scoring two goals and delivering some crushing body checks.
Lindros scored his second goal of the game at 12:57 of the third period after taking a nice pass on a give-and-go with Philadelphia Flyer teammate Rod Brind'Amour and firing the puck past the Belarus goalie.
''We have worked hard for four days to get ready as a team, but ultimately in any game, individual talent comes to the forefront and that's what happened tonight with Eric,'' fellow Team Canada player Wayne Gretzky said following the game.
Canada went up 4-0 at 17:44 of the third when Lindros tipped in a rebound off of a Ray Bourque shot from the point with one hand.
On the power play, Canada made it 3-0 at 4:38 of the second perid when Al MacInnis, a defenseman with the St. Louis Blues, unleashed a bullet from the point that the Belarus goalie never saw.
Bourque of the Boston Bruins pinched in from the point taking a pass from Brind'Amour to score Canada's second goal of the game on a power play at 14:34 of the first period.
The Canadians opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 7:55 of the first period.
Keith Primeau stole the puck at Canada's own blueline and went down on a 2-1 with Theoren Fleury. Primeau of the Carolina Hurricanes faked a shot before passing off to the Calgary Flames' Fleury who drove it home.
Canadian goalkeeper Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche had a relatively quite night in goal, stopping 18 shots to pick up the shutout.
Gretzky, with the New York Rangers, said the biggest adjustment for himself and the rest of the Canadian team was getting used to the larger ice surface.
''There was a lot more room on the ice than we expected. We got the puck and found ourselves a lot farther from the net than what we are normally used to.'' (Kyodo News)
Russia thumps Kazakstan 9-2
Russia's stars in the North American National Hockey League (NHL) bombarded Kazakstan's goalies with 31 shots for a 9-2 victory Friday at the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
Alexei Yashin of the Ottawa Senators, Pavel Bure with the Vancouver Canucks and Andrei Kovalenko of the Edmonton Oilers each struck for a pair of goals at the Aqua Wing ice arena, drubbing Kazakstan which had qualified through the preliminary round.
The final round of the men's ice hockey tourney, called the ''dream tournament'' and featuring six teams largely manned by NHL players and two qualifiers, got under way Friday with four games.
Sweden beat the United States 4-2, the Czech Republic and Dominik Hasek shut out Finland 3-0, and Canada outgunned qualifier Belarus 5-0.
Russia also got a goal and an assist from Sergei Fedorov, who played for the 1997 NHL champion Detroit Red Wings.
Kazakstan, without an NHLer on their squad, got goals from Erlan Sagymbayev in the first period and from Evgeniy Koreshkov with less than three minutes remaining in the game. (Kyodo News)
Czechs down Finland 3-0
Dominik Hasek stopped 17 shots and the Czech Republic skaters were relentless against Jarmo Myllys, taking a 3-0 victory from Finland in the men's ice hockey tournament at the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
The Czech Republic's win at the Aqua Wing ice arena and Sweden's 4-2 win over the United States at Nagano's Big Hat opened the so-called ''dream tournament,'' featuring the stars of the North American National Hockey League (NHL) for the first time playing for their home countries.
Hasek, the NHL's most valuable player and top goalie last year for the Buffalo Sabres, recorded the shutout for the 1996 world champion team.
Meanwhile, Robert Reichel of the New York Islanders scored one goal and captain Vladimir Ruzicka, formerly of the Boston Bruins, added another in the third period as the Czechs finally broke through the solid goaltending of Myllys.
Finland's 32-year-old netminder with a silver medal from the 1988 Calgary Olympics and the bronze medal from Lillehammer four years ago, stopped 26 of the 29 shots flung at him Friday.
After a scoreless first period, Pavel Patera, who plays for AIK Stockholm in Sweden, ricocheted a shot off a Finnish defender's leg in front of the goal and past Myllys to give the Czechs a 1-0 lead.
Martin Rucinsky, who was given the assist on the goal, sai after the game, ''I think we had great goaltending and solid defense. If we play together like we did tonight, we might surprise a lot of people.''
Reichel gave the Czechs a 2-0 lead at 4:54 of the third period, tucking the puck into the net from behind and Ruzicka deflected in a pass from Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins into the net at 8:40 for an insurance goal.
''I'm not used to playing with such a player. As soon as Jagr gets the puck, he's double-teamed. That's good for me because it means that I'm free to shoot,'' said Ruzicka, who now plays for Slavia Prague at home. (Kyodo News)
Defending champion Sweden downs U.S.
Daniel Alfredsson scored a pair of goals to pace defending champion Sweden 4-2 over the United States on Friday as the final round of the men's ice hockey tournament for the Nagano Olympic Winter Games got under way.
Alfredsson, with a pair of assists from Peter Forsberg, energized Sweden's offense at the Big Hat ice arena and goalkeeper Tommy Salo recovered from a shaky start in the nets to make 29 saves and thwart a comeback bid by the U.S.
The game was one of two openers to the Olympic ''dream tournament,'' featuring six teams made up primarily of players from the North American National Hockey League (NHL). The other opening- round contest saw the Czech Republic beat Finland 3-0.
Alfredsson, the NHL's rookie of the year for the Ottawa Senators last year, scored on a power play at 12 minutes and 26 seconds into the first period to draw Sweden even 1-1 in the first period and then put the defending Olympic gold medalists ahead for good with another goal in the second.
At 11 minutes and 33 seconds into the second period, Alfredsson took a Peter Forsberg pass from behind the net off the skate of a U.S. defender and slipped it through the pads of U.S. goalie Mike Richter for a 3-2 lead.
''We were lucky to be down by only one goal after the first period. We played much better in the second and third periods and it was nice to beat one of the best teams in the world,'' Sweden's coach Kent Forsberg said.
Mats Sundin put the game away for Sweden at 17 minutes and 4 seconds into the third period when he took a pass from Mikael Andersson in the slot and beat Richter with a nice head fake to put Sweden up 4-2.
U.S. coach Ron Wilson was not worried about his team's performance.
''We've got three games to sort things out. We may have been a little too aggressive in the second and third periods. We lost our patience and you can't do that against a team like Sweden,'' said Wilson.
U.S. captain Chris Chelios, a forward with the NHL Chicago Blackhawks, opened the scoring with a blast from the point past Salo and Mike Modano put the U.S. up 2-1 at 12 minutes and 50 seconds into the same period. (Kyodo News)
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun