Saturday, February 27, 2010

Canada & US seek ice hockey glory

Canada's Sidney Crosby
Crosby scored a consolation goal for Canada in the 5-3 defeat by USA

The Canadian men's ice hockey team will be desperate to avenge their round robin defeat by the United States when the two battle for gold on Sunday.

The Canadian team carry the hopes of the ice hockey-mad host nation into the final event of the Games (2015 GMT).

And following the 5-3 defeat by the US, they need no extra motivation.

Canada star Sidney Crosby said: "I don't know if you need revenge when you are in the final, you probably don't need any more motivation than that."

As they seek the Olympic gold medal they last won in 2002, the Canadian men will be looking to mirror their female counterparts, who beat the US 2-0 on Thursday.

However, the two men's sides reached the final in contrasting fashions on Friday.

You may find this hard to believe but it doesn't matter to me who we're playing

Canadian coach Mike Babcock

Canada edged to a 3-2 semi-final victory over Slovakia, while the US sealed their place in the final courtesy of a 6-1 win over Finland.

But Canada forward Jarome Iginla is confident, saying: "I can't wait.

"We love the chance of playing them again. There's a lot of rivalries with them - from world juniors through the ladies.

"They beat us. Now we have the opportunity to play them again. It's going to be exciting, for the gold medal."

Canadian coach Mike Babcock moved to play down the hype surrounding the match.

"In the end we feel fortunate to do what we came here for, which is to play for the gold medal," said Babcock.

"Absolutely thrilled for our young guys and our team and this opportunity especially at home in Canada and to get another shot at the US.

"I think it is real special. You may find this hard to believe but it doesn't matter to me who we're playing."

The US, who beat Canada in the Olympics for the first time in 50 years last Sunday, has not won Olympic ice hockey gold outside of its own borders.

And coach Ron Wilson knows the size of the task facing his side.

"It's hard to beat a team twice in a tournament like this," said Wilson.

"But we've beaten Canada, and we'll play better than we did the last time we played against them."

Sunday's final will mark the 50th anniversary year of the US winning ice hockey gold in Squaw Valley, California, in 1960.

"We all said, 'Wouldn't it be nice?' and now we have the opportunity," said Ryan Miller, who has arguably been the best goaltender at the Games.

"We have the talent. We have some youthful excitement, we have the right kind of veteran players."

The other event to run on the final day is the men's 50km mass start cross country skiing (1730 GMT).

Norway's Petter Northug is the reigning world champion over the distance after edging out Russia's Maxim Vylegzhanin by seven tenths of a second in Liberec last year.

The pair will be challenged by Switzerland's Dario Cologna , who won the 15km title, and Sweden's Marcus Hellner who has gold medals from the 30km and 4x10km relay.

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