Canada Needs 57-Shot Effort to Squeak Into Semifinals

It took the superior Canadian side nearly sixty shots to solve Latvia’s Kristers Gudlevskis and take a slim 2-1 victory over Latvia into the Olympic semifinals.  Canada came out in the first period really peppering the Latvian side, finishing with 16 shots on goal.  The offensive production did not leave much possession time for the Latvians, who finished with six shots.  Patrick Sharp started the scoring for Canada with a little over six minutes to play in the first.  He took a backdoor pass from Rick Nash and sent a one-timer past Gudlevskis.

Just over two minutes later, Lauris Darzins scored to tie it up for Latvia.  He took a breakaway pass from Arturs Kulda and he deked Price for the opportunistic goal.  Discipline was again an early problem for the Canadian side with two minor penalties over the first 20 minutes.  Latvia was unable to get anything with the extra man due to Canada’s aggressive penalty killing units.

Canada came out guns blazing in the second period, outshooting the Latvians 19-5.  The Latvians looked content on waiting for an opportunity to catch the Canadians sleeping as long as Gudlevskis can keep it close.  Kulda had a key opportunity toward the end of the second period, but Price caught the shot just in time.  The Canadian production is impressive, but not a lot of quality.  Scoring was an issue for them against Finland and Norway; it appears to be a continuation of not getting quality shots on their opposition.

To start the third period, the Canadians had 1:27 left on the power play from a Sandis Ozolins highsticking call.  The extra man spurred momentum and would help the Canadian side better their 19-shot second period barrage with an amazing 22-shot offensive effort.  However, Gudlevskis would turn away all of those chances until the seven minute mark when Shea Weber was finally able to beat the outstanding netminder.  Weber and Doughty are now the second and third highest scoring defensemen in the tournament with six and five points, respectively; Doughty assisted on the Weber game winner.

Latvia had some great scoring chances, but they were few and far between.  The Canadian defense was stellar again; they have allowed an Olympic tournament best three goals in their four games played.  They will face their biggest test so far against a dominant American side who handily defeated a determined Czech Republic team 5-2.  They will play at 21:00 (GMT+4 Sochi).  The winner moves to the gold medal round and the loser will play for the bronze medal. 

Tweets by @eurohockey