Faceoff Factor

“I am very proud of our Belarusian team,” said coach Curt Fraser. “We played a very good game, a very well-executed game plan, but when it comes to a shootout, it can go either way. We came very close to beating the Czechs for the very first time. The Belarusian team is improving, and we look forward to next year and competing for one of those eight spots.”

The Czechs controlled the play for much of the first period, outshooting Belarus 13-5, but it was Chupris who put the Belarusians up 1-0 at the end of the period. Rolinek finally got the Czechs on the board late in the second period when the puck went off his skate and into the net.

Andrei Kostitsyn regained the lead for Belarus when he used Michalek as a screen and fired the puck past Hnilicka, but Kotalik replied for the Czechs with 6:22 left in the game.

In the shootout, it was Kotalik who won the game for the Czechs.

Coach Ken Hitchcock decided to wake up his team with an 8:30 practice and it looks like it was a good move.

The problems before this game was that most of the offense seemed to be coming from the top line of Nash-Heatley-Getzlaf and that the players were making little mistakes that could end up biting them in the end. It was crucial to get the other lines moving (scoring-wise) and to establish good habits – at all times.

After being moved from the second line to the fourth line, Spezza finally scored his first goal of the tournament. He wasn’t the only player to finally get going; the Eric Staal and Marty St-Louis duo also put on a show with Staal scoring his first of the tournament – and second, third, and fourth – and adding a helper, and with St-Louis assisting on five goals.

Canada also remained disciplined, taking only 2 minor penalties and scoring a short-handed goal in the process.

After a first period that saw Canada score 4 times (Spezza, Heatley, Staal, Sharp), coach Krupp replaced goalie Kotschnew with Robert Mueller, a move that didn’t pay off. Mueller allowed five goals in the second period (Mayers, Roy, and three from Staal), with Staal’s fourth being a one-handed swat at the puck and Mayers’ goal resulting from a horrible play by Mueller. In the third period, Green scored Canada’s 10^th goal.

Frank Hordler scored Germany’s only goal after he sprinted down the ice and the puck bounced off of Hamhuis’ stick and behind Cam Ward.

Canada stopped their aggressive forecheck after the game was out of reach for the Germans, but they established good habits that will certainly help them against the Finns (Monday) and in the elimination games.

It was the battle of the Vezina candidates and the Russians came out on top, thanks to the current NHL scoring champion.

Sweden took an early lead when Weinhandl’s wrist shot in the slot beat Nabokov.

Sweden’s Douglas Murray delivered a check to Alexei Morozov just ten minutes into the game. Morozov did not return and Murray was handed a game misconduct – which carries an automatic one-game suspension. Strahlman and Kovalchuk were also kicked out for fighting, a rarity in international tournaments.

With only 4 defencemen left to play for the remaining 50 minutes of the game, Sweden’s Johan Andersson was shifted to the blueline because of his past experience as a defenceman – one game, five years ago, in Sweden’s second division.

Russia’s 5-minute power play evaporated when Ovechkin and Afinogenov took penalties. The tables turned when the Swedes were handed a couple of 5-on-3 power plays late in the first period, but the Russians were able to kill those penalties.

In the second period, Russia came out on the attack and Sweden waited them to make a mistake. Russia finally got on the board when Lundqvist made a save on Ovechkin but dropped the puck, enabling Semin to score. Sweden regained the lead late in the period (Martensson).

Russia tied the game again in the third period when Zaripov took a shot and Fedorov took the rebound and put it past Lundqvist. The game looked like it was going to overtime until Ovechkin scored the game-winner with 6 seconds left on the clock.

Anze Kopitar may be a rising star in the NHL, but he was not able to carry his team in the World Championships, though he certainly tried.

Slovenia scored 6 goals in 6 games, with 3 of those goals coming from Kopitar’s stick. He also led his team in scoring, with 4 points in the tournament.

Kolnik scored Slovakia’s first goal of the game in the opening frame. Manfreda replied for Slovenia to tie the score.

In the second period, Slovakia scored two straight goals (Petrovicky, Visnovsky), but Slovenia tied the game yet again (Rodman, Kopitar) to force overtime.

The OT session solved nothing, so the teams gave Halifax its first shootout of the tournament. Visnovsky’s third round goal gave Slovakia the win, meaning they avoid being relegated to Division I.

It was do-or-die for Italy and they started out well, gaining a 1-0 lead after Jason Cirone tipped in a rebound.

However, just like the day before, Italy took penalties and France capitalized. Amar and Treille scored for France in the first period and Zwikel added a third goal in the second period.

Italian coach Michel Goulet pulled goalie Thomas Tragust in favour of Gunther Hell, and the move seemed to work for awhile. The Italians came within a goal after Signoretti scored while shorthanded, and the team had several more chances.

The third period was crazy. Desrosiers scored for the French just one minute into the period and Iannone replied for Italy just minutes later. Fifty-eight seconds later, Treille scored a goal when the puck went off his shin pads and into the net. Bordeleau later made it 6-3 for the French.

Tippis scored a power play goal for Italy with 3 minutes remaining in the game, but that was all they could manage against Huet.

With this loss, Italy has been relegated to Division I next year.