World Cup Semifinals: Canada Dodges A Bullet

It is often said that a sign of a good hockey team is its ability to squeeze a win from a game that should have been lost. So it was for Canada on Saturday night, as they were outplayed and outchanced by a terrific Czech Republic team. The only thing the Czechs could not do was put enough pucks behind Roberto Luongo.

The Canadian backup goalie made 37 saves and Vincent Lecavalier provided the overtime goal, as Canada won 4-3, advancing to Tuesday's World Cup final against Finland.

After dominating their opponents throughout the tournament, Team Canada got a rude awakening in the semifinal. The Czechs were faster, very sound on defense and more than prepared to play a physical game.

They excelled at foiling the Canadian attack, usually by intercepting bad passes and dump-in shots. They controlled the puck along the boards, and backed off Canada's defense with their speedy rushes over the blue line.

The Czechs also had momentum on their side. First they erased a 2-0 Canadian lead. Then they responded immediately when Kris Draper put up 3-2 with 6:07 left in the third period: It took just six seconds before a Patrik Elias goal tied it at 3-3.

Despite being outshot 40-24, the Canadians got through often enough to create numerous good scoring chances, and played hard enough to get lucky. Filling in for Martin Brodeur, who has a wrist injury, Luongo looked weak on the Elias goal, but otherwise had an outstanding night.

A key forward line for Canada had Joe Thornton centering Draper and Shane Doan. They effectively neutralized the powerful Czech unit of Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka and Vinny Prospal.

Defenseman Eric Brewer opened the scoring in the second period, when he drove to the Czech crease and chipped in a pass from Lecavalier. Mario Lemieux added a power play goal a few minutes later.

But the Czechs quickly made it 2-1 on a Peter Cajanek shot that hit a skate and slid under Luongo. Martin Havlat's power play goal tied the game early in the third, then Draper and Elias scored late to set up overtime.

The overtime period lasted 3:45 before Lecavalier was left undefended in front of the Czech net. After being stopped on his initial shot by Tomas Vokoun, Lecavalier collected his own rebound and roofed a shot over Vokoun from a sharp angle.

"We escaped, is the best way to put it,'' Canadian coach Pat Quin told reporters.

"You could see the last couple of days in practice we weren't mentally sharp. We played the same way we practised. In short tournaments like this, you can't afford nights off.''

Canada got away with one on Saturday, and has a resilient Finnish team waiting in the wings.

World Cup championship game:
Tuesday, 7:00 pm ET: Finland at Canada, Toronto

Complete World Cup Resources: The schedule, game recaps, rosters, the prediction, and more.