U.S., Canada Set to Face Off for Gold

Associated Press

Canada's Sidney Crosby waits for the puck to be dropped in a face-off against Slovakia.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Another young, fast team outdid a veteran-laden opponent to reach the finals of the Olympic men's hockey tournament Friday, as Team Canada defeated Slovakia 3-2 to set up a rematch with Team USA for gold Sunday.

"The guys are already looking forward to it," Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo said.

The game was much closer and more hard-fought than the U.S.-Finland game earlier in the day that was over in the first 10 minutes. But it followed a similar pattern. Canada, like the U.S., jumped out to an early lead, using its forecheck to bottle up the opposition and let its goalie escape barely tested.

The twist was that the Slovakians pushed Canada much harder, scoring two goals in the final period after the Canadians perhaps started listening to their delirious fans, who with 12 minutes left were already chanting "We want USA!"

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Canadian players celebrate after winning their semifinal game against Slovakia.

Like the Finns, the Slovakians were thinner on talent. That forced them to include older players, some of whom couldn't establish themselves in the National Hockey League or have since left it. Players like Jozef Stumpel (37 years old), Zigmund Palffy (37) and Richard Zednik (34) were once consistent scorers in the NHL but have moved back closer to home for the sunset of their careers. Others, like defenseman Martin Strbak, never made it that far, drinking a cup of coffee in hockey's best league years earlier.

But unlike the Finns and other opponents, the Slovakians still had some top-end talent in their prime, such as one of the best defensemen in the NHL, Zdeno Chara, one of the league's top scorers, Marian Gaborik, and one of the best all-around forwards, Marian Hossa.

They consistently made life difficult for the Canadians, forechecking relentlessly, with Hossa especially effective in pinning the Canadians deep in their end – perhaps a lesson to the U.S. team, which has employed a similar strategy on other teams. Mr. Gaborik was also tricky, occasionally tearing up the left wing and zinging shots on Mr. Luongo.

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Canada's strategy for scoring was simple: put pucks on net and screen the Slovakian goalie, Jaroslav Halak, an up-and-coming netminder in the NHL. At 6-foot, Halak isn't an ideal size for netminders in today's hockey. Canada smartly placed forwards in front of him to create screens.

When Mr. Chara was on the ice this didn't work. He easily cleared away the Canadian forwards. But when some of the lesser Slovakian defenders were on the ice they couldn't contain the bulkiest Canadian forwads.

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That led to goals early on by Patrick Marleau and Brenden Morrow, with Slovakian defender Lubomir Visnovsky victimized on both. Mr. Visnovsky, a power-play specialist with the Edmonton Oilers, was paired with Mr. Strbak, a big defender but not a great one. They were by far Slovakia's weakest defensive pairing early on.

Canada extended its lead in the third on a goal by Ryan Getzlaf in a goal-mouth scramble. But the Slovakians didn't give up. With Mr. Halak holding down the fort, it was up to two of its lesser lights to bring them within a goal.

First came Mr. Visnovsky, who made use of his rushing skills to charge up the ice and squeeze a backhand shot through a tiny space that Mr. Luongo had left – a goal that the netminder probably would have liked back. Then came a second by Michal Handzus, a big forward with the Los Angeles Kings, who batted in a goal after intense Slovakian pressure with 4:53 left.

But even after Slovakia pulled its goalie, it didn't quite have the firepower to score the equalizer and Canada held on, setting up a rematch with Team USA. Pavol Demitra had a chance to tie in the final seconds but missed an open net.

U.S. forward Patrick Kane said after his team's game that he was almost sorry that the game against Finland ended so quickly because it deprived his team of a chance to further test itself. "That was a great 15 minutes for us but it would have been nice to play a full 60," Mr. Kane said.

That's probably not a regret the Canadians had. The team looked chastened as the game ended and the fans began to chant "We want USA!" some more.

Write to Ian Johnson at ian.johnson@wsj.com

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