Canada Took A Czech Beating And Survived

Anything less than dominance would have been an upset, no matter the opponent. With NHLers at the Olympics, Team Canada had won 13 straight. They hadn't trailed in more than 800 consecutive minutes of game time. Czechia in the quarterfinals shouldn't have forced them to break a real sweat. There's top-end talent, but also it's mostly some guys; the lion's share of the Czech roster isn't in the NHL. It was 5-0 Canada when these two met in group play. Marty Necas had a joke for that one. They let the Canadians win that one, he said, because "we knew we were not going to win two in a row." The pressure, one could argue, was all on Canada. They played like that. They also played like a team with the horses to survive it.

Canada beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime, in the best and tensest men's Olympic hockey match in a generation. Mitch Marner (famously clutch) singlehandedly carved up the defense for the overtime winner, which might hit a little more if not for the awful 3-on-3 overtime format, but counts all the same. Canada's skill and speed was on display throughout; Celebrini-McDavid-MacKinnon ("Mach 3") made its debut as a line; McDavid setting up Celebrini for the game's first goal was an almost unfair connection. No one's going to outskate or outshoot Canada.

They can be outworked, however, and for long stretches. For much of the first period and significant parts of the second and third, the Czechs looked like the stronger team. They played a bruising game, relying on the so-far-correct assumption that NHL refs are not likely to call things too far outside of NHL norms, no matter what the IIHF Rulebook says. They finished their checks and were liberal with their elbows. That physicality took its toll: Radko Gudas sent Sidney Crosby to the locker room early in the second period with what looked like a right leg injury. They relied heavily on counterattacks for their offense. Gudas jumped a pass in the neutral zone to set up their first goal, and Tomas Hertl gave up the body to block a shot that led to the rush the other way for their third. (Also the Czechs had six men on the ice, but that's just good hustle.) Playing hard and tireless and maybe slightly dirty is an obvious blueprint for giving yourself a chance against a more skilled team; it's basically the entire philosophy underpinning the U.S. roster.

I'll be honest, I really thought the Czechs were gonna do it. Too many teams have turtled after going down early to Canada, but to come back to take a 2-1 lead, and then wrest back another after Canada tied it up, showed they might have the resolve to keep the attack on, and the wheels to see it through. Ondrej Palat's go-ahead goal with 7:42 left felt like it might hold up. But Nick Suzuki, who's been a popular punching bag back home and having hit a post earlier on an open net, made things happen on a redirect and let Canada partially exhale with 3:27 remaining.

Three-on-three shouldn't have a place in a winner-goes-home game. But also, it's kind of a cheat code for Canada and its speed. Open ice and they can start McDavid-MacKinnon-Makar? Not very fair, if you ask me. But it was Marner without help who sent the game Czechs home heartbroken.

The Czechs wanted more, obviously, and maybe even deserved it, but I hope they're proud of going 60-plus with the sport's giants and not giving an inch. (I'm also grateful that we won't have to spend the rest of our lives hearing Canadians complain about an uncalled too-many-men GWG.) But it is kind of funny that three of the more maligned players on this team came up big in the biggest spots: Suzuki, Marner, and of course Jordan Binnington, who outside of a rough first goal did all that could be asked of him. It's gonna make great message-board material, and more than that, it's the reason to fear Team Canada. There's just so much talent up and down the roster. Crosby did it in Vancouver, but he was hurt. McDavid did it at 4 Nations, but he was on the bench. Didn't matter. Canada's never truly on the back foot, whoever's out there, whatever the score, as long as there's still time on the clock.