Jan 4, 2014 - Semi Final Games

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer ©

Canadian Fan

Oh woe is me.  A tough game for Canada.  They didn't play very well, and Finland had a great game plan.  They stifled most offensive chances, played the trap to perfection, and scored on their early opportunities.  The Canadian team did not get untracked for the whole game, and got few good chances.  It looked pretty good at the end of the 1st period, with not score.

In the 2nd period, Finland finally broke the ice, scoring a good goal.  Then they got another, and it didn't look so good.  Canada finally was able to get in close to the net with the puck and manage to put one by their goalie (who played really well, by the way), and the crowd was back in it.  Unfortunately, Finland scored shortly afterward.

Face-off Against Finland

In the third, as time wound down, Canada had to start taking chances, and that is when the the Finns were able to ice the game.  The final score was 5-1.

They Felt Pretty Bad About the Loss

There was some pretty dismal refereeing.  Imagine calling a goalie for tripping when he stops a breakaway, and the player he stops runs into his pad and falls down.  Imagine calling a hit to the head, when the guy ducks, the Canadian player goes low and hits him shoulder to shoulder, into the boards.  Many other instances of shoddy refereeing as well, especially as they let them play hockey throughout much of the games.  Oh well, no sense crying now, they still have a game left against the Russians for the bronze medal.  Hopefully they can come back up, but the Russians had a tough defeat against the Swedes in their semi final, losing 2-1, so maybe they will also have to get back up.

Russian Team Warming Up

The Sweden-Russia game was very exciting.  It was back and forth, hard skating and checking, and very good hockey.  The Swedes were lucky to come out of the 1st period without any goals against them.  The Russians outplayed them, quite a lot.  After that, they were pretty even, and a few good chances led to the goals that each team scored.

With time running down, Russia pulled their goalie, and then Sweden took a penalty, so the Russians had 6 skaters against 4.  They had some good chances, but were unable to put the puck in the net.  As time expired, there was quite a row in the corner, and what looked like a couple fights.  The Swedish coach was quite upset, I'm sure because he could see some of his players suspended for the Gold Medal game.  As it turns out, 1 player has a hearing this morning to determine if he will play or be suspended.

The big arena is pretty nice.  The crowd was very loud during the Sweden game.  What an atmosphere.  During the Canada game, it was also very loud.  Our Canadian fans did everything we could to help out the team, but it was not to be.

After the game, it was back to the hotel and get ready for bed.  Tomorrow, we are going to leave a little early because they are going to take a group photo.  We also have to get our suitcases packed as when we return, there will be little time.  We board our bus for the airport at 2:50 am, so won't be getting much sleep tonight.