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“No words man,” said Mark, a hockey fan reacting to Team Canada’s big win on Wednesday. “A lot of nervous, anxiety energy and just a ton of relief and excitement to see that puck go in.”
Canada is off to the semi-finals of the Olympic tournament following the Marner goal which guaranteed the Canadians a shot at winning a medal in Milan.
Bradley Michael began his quarter-final watch along at home, but as the score tightened and the third period drew closer he decided to put his boots on and watch alongside other Team Canada fans at Sports on Tap in Saskatoon.
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“I saw the weather so I stuck around at home,” Michael said. “’I might as well come out here,’ I told myself.”
Canada got out to a 1-0 lead in the first period with teenager Macklin Celebrini continuing his torrid pace off a feed from Connor McDavid, before Czechia answered back with goals from Lukas Sedlak and David Pastrnak.
Nathan MacKinnon tied up the game at 2-2 midway through the second period, a score which would hold until less than eight minutes remained on the clock.
Czechia silenced the Canadians in the crowd and in sports bars across the country with 7:42 left in regulation off a broken play, despite having too many skaters on the ice.
Just as it looked like the upset of the Olympics was looking, Canada’s Nick Suzuki tipped a Devon Toews point shot past Lukas Dostal to send the game to overtime.
“When the Czechs scored the (Palat) goal that’s when Canada perked up,” Michael said. “I think that was a real motivation for them. Man, that was the worst nail biter game that I’ve seen for a while.”
It didn’t take Canada long to complete the comeback in three-on-three overtime, with Marner picking up the puck at centre ice and dancing his way into the slot before ripping the backhand winner.
Taking some time away from his day job, Lawrence Greyeyes said that moment made the trip through the snow worth it.
“Not too many guys go in on a one-on-three other than (Connor) Bedard and finish it off in overtime,” Greyeyes said. “That was very entertaining, so I don’t mind skipping work for a couple hours here.”
One key loss for the Canadians came in the second period, when captain Sidney Crosby left the game and did not return after suffering a lower-body injury on a hit thrown by Czechia’s Radko Gudas.
His availability for the semi-finals is still up in the air, thought fans like Mark are optimistic he’ll be able to help lead Canada to the gold medal game.
“Crushing,” Mark said in response to Crosby’s exit from the game. “I think we did see the boys respond, it brought some life to them for the rest of the period. Of course, hoping that he’s good to go for the next one.”
Canada will now face off against Finland in the tournament semi-finals on Friday at 9:40 am.
