Vancouver (AFP) - Canada is hoping to write its own Hollywood ending Sunday when they clash with the United States in an Olympic hockey final that has all the hallmarks of being a classic.
The highly-anticipated gold medal match will be arguably the biggest international game on Canadian soil since the 1972 Summit Series the hosts played against the Soviet Union.
Vancouver (AFP) - Bringing home the Olympic hockey gold is not a sprint to the finish but an exercise in managing nerves and overcoming hardships, says Canada associate general manager Ken Holland.
"People want us to win in six straight games but teams that win the Olympics are the ones that handle the adversity the best," Holland told AFP while watching the Canadian players practice at Canada Hockey Place arena ahead of Sunday's gold medal clash against the United States.
Ice hockey, like football, favors both mass and agility. The bigger the player, the harder his hits and the more difficult it is to knock him off the puck. And the more agile he is, the faster he can react to the high speeds and sudden direction changes that make the game so exciting.
Unfortunately, mass and agility tend to rule each other out. So players are constantly searching for just the right balance between heft and speed-balance that requires diligence all year long.
VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Slovakia's Lubos Bartecko was in stable condition on Tuesday after an elbow to the head from Norway's Ole Kristian Tollefsen during an Olympic ice hockey qualification game on Tuesday left him lying in a pool of blood.
SportsThe incident occurred six minutes into the first period of a scoreless game when Tollefsen cut across the ice and caught an unsuspecting Bartecko with a left elbow as he moved up the wing.
Vancouver (AFP) - Sweden right wing Tomas Holmstrom was ruled out of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games on Sunday after suffering a left knee injury in Detroit's National Hockey League game a day earlier against Ottawa.
Holmstrom, who has 15 goals and nine assists in 47 NHL games this season, will be replaced by Detroit Red Wings teammate Johan Franzen, Swedish coach Bengt Ake Gustafsson said.
