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Switzerland has been the surprise team of these Olympics.
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Swiss roll into quarters
By Rich Libero | NHL.com
Feb. 19, 2006
TORINO, Italy - Switzerland, the surprise team of the Olympics secured itself a quarterfinal berth after tying archrival Germany, 2-2, Sunday.
"We had a goal to make it to the quarters, but we thought we would be fighting Germany for the final spot," Swiss goaltender Martin Gerber said. "We were hoping we could make it, but realistically thought it would go down to the last game."
The Germans opened their contest with a Sven Felski goal two minutes into the second period, but the Swiss stormed back with Flavien Conne's equalizer six minutes later and Paul DiPietro added another with 1:55 to play in the period.
Needing a win to keep their quarterfinals hope alive, the Germans stormed forward and tied the game with a Tino Boos tally with eight minutes left in regulation.
"It's huge," DiPietro said of Switzerland's unexpected success. "We weren't there in '98 and did qualify in 2002. Our goal at this tournament was to qualify for the quarterfinals and we have done that, but we still have to build through our next matches."
The Germans recognized that they would have to beat Italy and Switzerland in order to advance in Group A. They jiggered their goaltending rotation to have Washington's Olaf Kolzig in goal against those two clubs.
But the Germans needed a late goal to squeak out a 3-3 tie against Italy and that effort, combined with Switzerland's upset of Canada on Saturday, conspired to crimp German hopes.
"Of course we are disappointed with today's results," Germany's Marcel Goc said. "But it is (Saturday's) game against Italy that has really hurt us. It was the two points we wanted, but we just didn't play well enough."
Switzerland will face Italy on Tuesday to finish out the preliminary round. Their goal will be to secure more points in order to avoid playing one of the stronger teams from Group B in a quarterfinal crossover match up.
Slovaks advance on late goal
Marian Hossa scored the game-winning goal 8:09 into the third period as Slovakia avoided a scare against Kazakhstan.
Fresh off a 1-0 loss to Russia on Saturday, Kazakhstan proved that the result was not a fluke. They took an early lead on the Slovaks at 16:16 of the first period with a Yevgeniy Koreshkov goal.
"Today it was very difficult," Slovak forward Peter Bondra said. "We knew we could win, but we went down in the score during the first period and reached the tie only at the end of the second. Today we were a little bit tired having played four matches in five days."
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Peter Bondra's goal proplled the Slovaks to their fourth win of the Games Sunday.
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Bondra delivered a crushing power play goal that tied the game 1-1 with 10 seconds to play in the second period and set the stage for the final period.
"It was what we needed," Bondra said. "Then we started to play hard."
Slovakia outshot Kazakhstan 25-18. Karol Krizan started in goal for Slovakia, providing Peter Budaj with a rest. Vitaliy Kolesnik manned the Kazakhstan nets.
Slovakia, now 4-0 in the preliminary round, faces Sweden on Tuesday at 2 p.m . ET.
"Our goal was to fight in every game and try to win, but we didn't expect to beat some of the greatest teams in the world such as the USA and Russia," Bondra said.
Czechs mark place in quarterfinals
Vaclav Prospal scored a hat trick and Jaromir Jagr played despite sustaining a facial injury on Saturday as the Czech Republic defeated Italy, 4-1, in a feisty tilt.
The victory assures the Czechs of a spot in the quarterfinals with the Germans and Italians eliminated.
"We knew we definitely had to win and we won," Red Wings forward Robert Lang said. "It's is a relief. There is no easy opponent in this tournament."
The Czechs entered the tournament as a favorite for gold, but they lost goaltender Dominik Hasek and forward Patrik Elias to groin and rib injuries, respectively.
The Czechs will square off against Canada on Tuesday (10:30 a.m., MNBC and CBC) in the final preliminary round match for both clubs.
Holmstrom the pest
As Detroit Red Wings' teammates, Chris Chelios is well-acquainted with Tomas Holmstrom's ability to get under people's skin.
In fact, Holmstrom jousted with Red Wings teammate Mathieu Schneider in the first period as they battled for a puck at the half-boards. Schneider ended up getting whistled for interference and Holmstrom got a diving penalty for embellishing his fall to earth.
When asked if Chelios found it difficult to face Detroit teammates Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg and Holmstrom, he said it wasn't a big deal because you're playing sweater vs. sweater. But, that doesn't apply in the case of Holmstrom.
"Holmer is the only one who gets under your skin," Chelios said. "But I think I quieted him with the diving penalty."
Nabby gets nabbed
When Latvia's Aigars Cipruss scored a short-handed goal at 9:55 of the first period, it was the first goal the Russian netminder Evgeni Nabokov had surrendered in this Olympic tournament.
Nabokov had pitched back-to-back shutouts against Sweden and Kazakhstan and registered 129 minutes and 55 seconds of shutout time.
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