By Amy Tennery
MILAN, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Mitch Marner secured a place for Canada in the final four with an overtime goal that lifted the favourites past the Czech Republic 4-3 in an Olympic ice hockey quarter-final thriller on Wednesday.
The overwhelming pre-tournament favourites were down 2-3 late in the third period, when Nick Suzuki levelled it. Marner’s shot over the Czech goalie’s shoulder just 82 seconds into the nerve-searing extra session set off an ecstatic celebration through the Canadian fans at Santagiulia Arena.
The Czech team punched way above their weight class against the formidable cast of Canadian superstars but ran out of firepower in the final stretch of the fight.
Canada will be re-seeded along with the other three semi-finalists, with the top seed playing the lowest surviving seed and the second and third seeds facing off on Friday. Slovakia booked their final-four slot earlier on Wednesday, dispatching Germany 6-2.
The one-two punch Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini got the scoring started as the alternate captain connected with the 19-year-old forward on a beautiful backward pass. Celebrini sent the puck through the legs of Czech forward David Pastrnak and into the net.
The Czech team retaliated a little more than five minutes later. Defenceman Radko Gudas stripped the Canadians of the puck and fed it to Czech captain Roman Cervenka, who got it to the waiting stick of Lukas Sedlak for the goal.
Pastrnak’s slapshot on a power play put the Czech team up with little more than five minutes to go before the first intermission, as the Canadian team that had once appeared untouchable got their first real test of the tournament.
Canada got the opening they were looking for midway through the second period. Michal Kempny went to the penalty box for interference and Celebrini and McDavid set up Nathan MacKinnon for the power play equaliser.
The fight was far from over, however, as Martin Necas scooped up the puck and went streaking down the right side before flipping it to New York Islanders winger Ondrej Palat, who beat Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington.
Suzuki redirected a shot from Devon Toews to level it with less than four minutes left in regulation, and Marner, who regularly plays for the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, sent the Canadian crowd into a frenzy with his kill shot to end the contest.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in MilanEditing by Bill Berkrot)
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