Canada crushes Chinese dreams as hockey is slashed to final eight
Sports
Canada punched its ticket to the Olympic ice hockey quarterfinals by eliminating hosts China.
BEIJING (AFP) - Canada punched its ticket to the Olympic ice hockey quarterfinals on Tuesday by eliminating hosts China in sudden-death qualifying that also saw 2018 silver medallists Germany sent packing by upstarts Slovakia.
Canada s 7-2 win in Beijing put the finishing touches on the quarterfinal line-up on Wednesday -- Canada vs Sweden, USA against Slovakia, the Russians vs Denmark, and Finland facing off with Switzerland.
Winner of three of the last five gold medals, Canada came into the Games as one of the biggest question marks after the NHL s pandemic-driven decision to keep its players away from Beijing deprived the Canadians of their big-league superstars.
An earlier group-play loss to fierce rivals the USA forced the Canadians to fight it out in Tuesday s qualifying round of the bottom two-thirds of the 12-team tournament.
But even with second-choice players, Canada s depth in a sport that they brought to the world overwhelmed a Chinese team comprised largely of Canadian and American players who had switched to China for the Games but was almost barred from Beijing due to poor play.
The Chinese side, which earned an automatic berth due to host-nation status, finished 0-for-4.
Slovakia skated past the Germans 4-0, hitting the pause button on German hopes of a resurgence in the sport that were fuelled by their surprise silver finish in Pyeongchang.
The Slovaks will face an unbeaten USA team that was similarly weakened by the NHL absence but whose mix of veteran and teen players has gelled.
"They have so much speed and quickness," said Slovakia s coach Craig Ramsay, a Canadian veteran NHL player and coach.
"You certainly do not want to get in a battle where you are chasing them around the ice because they are too quick."
Switzerland eliminated the Czechs 4-2 and Denmark saw off Latvia 3-2 to advance further in the Games than any Danish team before them, and into a match-up with the defending gold medallists from Russia.
"It s big. We knew it was going to be a different tournament without the NHL players. It was going to be anyone s tournament," said Danish former NHL forward Frans Nielsen.
"I don t know if we expected to be in the quarterfinal but now we re here. We ve got everything to win and Russia have everything to lose."
