Shocker In Prague: USA Eliminates Czechs at World Hockey Championship

The upset of the year? Never mind Calgary over Detroit. Look to the quarterfinals at the 2004 World Hockey Championship. After blowing away every opponent in round robin play, the host team from the Czech Republic was unexpectedly stopped in its tracks today by Team USA.

In a game that went down to a shootout, the Americans prevailed to advance to Saturday's semifinals.

Jaromir Jagr and company blew a 2-0 lead, as the USA tied the game on goals by Richard Park of the Minnesota Wild and Erik Westrum, a minor leaguer with the Phoenix Coyotes' organization.

There was no scoring in 10 minutes of overtime. The only goal of the shootout was scored by Andy Roach, a 30-year-old defenceman who plays for Mannheim in the German league.

American goaltender Ty Conklin (Edmonton Oilers) was perfect in the shootout after making 41 saves during the game. Tomas Vokoun (Nashville Predators) stopped 32 shots for the Czechs.

The result left the hometown crowd in Prague "shockingly quiet," according to a game report from the official World Championship website.

Until today, the tournament had been a week-long party for the thunderously loud fans who packed the Sazka Arena. The Czech team outscored opponents 26-5 in six round-robin games and appeared an overwhelming favorite to win the tournament.

Coming into the playoff round, Team USA had three wins, with losses to Finland and Sweden and a tie against the Slovaks. The Americans get a rematch with Sweden in Saturday's semifinal. The Swedes advanced with a 4-1 win against Latvia.

Quarterfinal play concludes Thursday with Canada playing Finland and Slovakia playing Switzerland.

The 2004 World Championship page includes all the tournament results, and the schedule for the medal round.