|
HALIFAX, Canada, May 14, 2008 (AFP) - Canada reached the semi-finals for the sixth-straight year as Derek Roy scored three goals en route to an 8-2 victory over Norway at the World Ice Hockey Championships on Wednesday.
With the victory, defending champion Canada extended its win streak at the tournament to 16 games, including a perfect 9-0 record in 2007 at the Moscow Worlds.
Canada, who will face Sweden on Friday, are trying to capture their 25th title and become the first country to win on home ice in 22 years.
Rick Nash, with two, Jonathan Toews, Dany Heatley and Ryan Getzlaf also scored for Canada, who won gold in 2003, 2004 and 2007.
"It was one of those games," Roy said. "On the first goal I knew where I wanted to shoot it but I didn´t know where the goalie was. But on the second and third goal I looked up and saw a huge gaps.
"That´s when you just have to shoot and trust your shot. It was a good shot."
Morten Ask and Mathis Olimb scored for Norway, who were making their first appearance in the quarter-finals since 2000 when the current playoff format was introduced.
For the first time in the 100-year history of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Canada is the host team for the men´s championship. The two semi-finalists from Halifax now travel to Quebec City to join two other quarter-final winners for the semi-finals, bronze medal and gold medal game.
"They are a very disciplined, quick team with great mobility up front and they have one of the best goaltenders in the world," Canada coach Ken Hitchcock said of Sweden.
With no Eric Staal in the lineup, Canada´s second line was not clicking, so the third line of Roy, Toews and Shane Doan stepped up against Norway.
Staal skipped Wednesday´s game so he could attend the funeral of his grandfather. Staal, who scored four goals against the Germans, is expected to rejoin his teammates in Quebec for Friday´s Sweden game.
Without Staal, the Toews, Roy and Doan combined in the second period for three unanswered goals in a seven-minute span, including a pair by Roy to give Canada a commanding 5-2 lead.
Norway kept the game close for the first 25 minutes before running into penalty trouble.
Mathis Olimb scored 5:32 into the second to tie it 2-2. Olimb took a pass out front and blasted a wrist shot over the shoulder of goaltender Cam Ward who went down early on the play.
Toews scored just over four minutes later to regain the lead for Canada. The Chicago Blackhawks forward curled out from the right boards and blasted a wrist shot through traffic and past Norway´s goalie Pal Grotnes.
"That goal by Toews helped spark our hockey club," Hitchcock said. "We settled down after that."
The 20-year-old Toews helped set up Canada´s next goal. Working the puck out from the right corner he fed Roy who beat Grotnes low to the stick side to make it 4-2.
Unlike most of the other teams in the tournament, Canada puts their team together at the last minute then hopes they get better with each game throughout the tournament.
"Our players have bought into our system and I admire them for that," Hitchcock said. "As coaches it has been special to see them respond to what we are trying to sell them from day one. If they don´t it takes away energy from our team."
Roy added his second of the game with 3:10 left as the Norwegian defence got caught running around in their own end, allowing Roy to shoot through a screen and beat Grotnes and the rout was on.
Become a Football Manager. Join for free at onlinefootballmanager.co.uk.
|
