Slovak Olympic hopes rest on Halak

If the Slovakian men’s hockey team has any shot at competing for a gold medal this weekend, Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jiroslav Halak will be the focal point. With the semi-final games taking place today, USA will face Finland at 3EST and later at 9:30EST Canada will face Slovakia for a chance to compete for gold on home soil. For the Canadians the formula is simple, keep playing the way they’ve been playing in the past couple of games. Even in Canada’s not-so-great performances in the tourney, they’ve still dominated from whistle to whistle, but ran into trouble against hot goalies from the opposing side. Tonight will be no different. Canada should dominate the play and we’ll see how the Slovaks and their goalie can defend against the constant pressure.


If Halak can play like his USA counter-part Ryan Miller against the Canadians, the Slovaks will be competitive and have a chance at stunning the hosts. If Halak looks even slightly human, the Slovakian squad could be in for a long night.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not doubt the Slovaks talent. And as everyone should know right now, in a tournament of this magnitude, anyone can beat anyone on a given night. However, like I said in the post before the Russia/Canada game, the only time the Olympic hosts have had any trouble whatsoever is when a goalie from the other side has completely stood on his head. Miller and Hiller have been the ones to do it, resulting in a loss and a shootout scare for Canada. But that’s all over now. That part of the tournament went out the window when Canada made Russia look like fools on Wednesday night.

Canada’s defensive game should be as good as it’s been throughout the tourney. They really shouldn’t let in more than 3 goals. The question is whether they can put on an offensive clinic like they did on Wednesday and take the Slovaks out through skill and hard work in the offensive zone. If they can do that and manage to squeeze a few pucks by Halak tonight, then a gold medal game on home soil will come to fruition for Sunday. If Halak steals the show and manages to upset the Canadians tonight to advance his own squad to the championship, well… Gauthier can get out the cheque-book and Carey Price can start looking for a realtor.

My predictions for tonight:

Canada 5, Slovakia 3… I don’t think Halak has enough to stop Canada tonight. He could, but I highly doubt it. Canada should take this one and advance.

Finland 2, USA 1… USA have shown that they clearly rely on Ryan Miller and will only go as far as he can take them. For the Finns, another team adept at the defensive game, I think 2 goals can get the job done tonight.

MSU