We're in semifinals !!!!!
(now wait ... we're gonna play against Canada)
Slovaks beat defending champion Sweden 4-3; Canada next
VANCOUVER (AP) — Slovakia knocked defending Olympic champion Sweden out of the men's hockey tournament Wednesday night with a 4-3 victory in the quarterfinals.
Marian Gaborik,
Andrej Sekera,
Pavol Demitra and
Tomas Kopecky scored for the Slovaks, whose superior team speed kept the slower Swedes at bay.
Sweden's
Nicklas Lidstrom, who scored the winning goal in the championship game at the
Torino Olympics, had his last shot stopped by
Jaroslav Halak as time expired.
SUMMARY: Slovakia 4, Sweden 3
The Slovaks will play Canada on Friday night in the semifinals for a spot in the gold-medal game.
Sweden's
Henrik Lundqvist, who had not allowed a goal before his game, let three consecutive pucks get past him in the second period. He finished with just 10 saves.
Halak made 26 saves for Slovakia.
Gaborik and Sekera broke open a scoreless game by scoring in a 37-second span midway through the second period, but the Swedes responded with their own pair of goals, also in a 37-second span, from Patric Hornqvist and
Henrik Zetterberg.
Demitra then scored the goal late in the second period that gave Slovakia the lead for good, slapping a shot that Lundqvist didn't see because the goalie's view was obstructed. Kopecky made the score 4-2 by scoring off a rebound in the third period.
Daniel Alfredsson scored 38 seconds later to pull Sweden within a goal, but the Swedes fell short with an aging team that welcomed back 13 players from the 2006 Olympics. The game marked the end of an era for Sweden, which won't have
Lidstrom or
Peter Forsberg or coach
Bengt-Ake Gustafsson back for the Sochi Games in four years.