Sunday, January 4, 2009

Canada Beats Russia - Face Sweden For Gold Monday

Three times the Canadian juniors took the lead, only to have the Russians bounce back to tie the game and then ultimately go ahead.

I was about ready to turn off the television, when with only a few seconds left, John Tavares grabbed the puck along the boards and fired the puck towards the Russian net. A Russian defenseman blocked the shot but instead of smothering the puck he allowed Jordan Eberle the opportunity to get the puck free, take a couple of skating strides and score the biggest goal of his young career! There was only 5.4 seconds left on the clock.

Boy, am I ever glad that I had not turned off the TV.

Ten minutes of nail-biting overtime resolved nothing and then the dreaded shoot-out.

I hate shoot-outs.

Canada's Jordan Eberle shot first and scored on a great backhander past the Russian netminder.

Canadian goalie, and Tampa draft pick, Dustin Tokarski then thwarted Russia's Dimitri Kugryshev.

Canada's next shooter was none other than John Tavares who fired a great wrist shot to score Canada's second shoot-out goal.

Pavel Chernov, representing Russia's last hope of keeping Russia's shoot-out hopes alive was turned aside by Tokarski to give Canada a 6-5 decision.

Monday Canada faces Sweden for the gold medal.

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