Team Canada flattens Russia in quarter-finals
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Canada still has to win two more games to claim gold in the men's hockey tournament at the 2010 Olympics, but it's hard to imagine that any team can beat the Canadians after their masterful performance against Russia on Wednesday.
Canada dominated its longtime hockey foes for a 7-3 win in the quarter-finals to advance to a match against the winner of the Sweden-Slovakia game later on Wednesday. It marks the first time Canada has defeated Russia in the Olympics since 1960.
To do so, the Canadians put forth a near-perfect performance. They crowded Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin all game and as a result, he went home empty once again in a clash against his nemesis, Sidney Crosby. Crosby didn't stand out, but he certainly stayed within Canada's game plan.
The Canadians continued to play their puck-possession game, but they also increased their physical play over the previous four games. They also played a strong positional game. They always had a third player high in the offensive zone to guard against Russia's potent transition game.
Canada also kept the puck along the boards as much as possible. In Russia's zone, the Canadian defencemen refused to mindlessly fire shots at the net if there wasn't a shooting lane. Instead, they dumped pucks into corners, where the Canadian forwards enjoyed a field day cycling the puck.
Canada also was the more skilled team, or at least the more cohesive. One of the few good stops Russian goalie Evgeni Nabokov made, before he was pulled after Canada's sixth goal in the second period, was on Rick Nash after a bang-bang-bang-bang passing play to set up the Canadian forward to side the Russian goal.
Babcock spins gold
Canadian coach Mike Babcock continued to have the Midas touch in his line combinations and matchups. This time, he placed the defensive wizardry of Jonathan Toews and Mike Richards along with the size of Nash to check Russia's heavyweight line of Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Semin.
Not only did they defuse the explosiveness of Ovechkin and Co., Nash scored a breakaway goal after Richards swiftly moved the puck up the ice to his linemates after a Malkin turnover at the Canadian blue-line.
The Nash goal gave Canada a 3-0 lead and it arrived 46 seconds after defenceman Dan Boyle drifted a shot past his San Jose Sharks teammate, Nabokov, on the power play. It was Boyle who made a brilliant rush up the ice to set up Ryan Getzlaf for the game's opening goal, just 2:21 in.
Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov called a timeout after Nash's goal. The Russians responded with a screen shot from defenceman Dmitri Kalinin. But Canada regained its three-goal lead when hard-hitting winger Brenden Morrow was allowed to walk out of the corner and squeeze a shot past Nabokov before the first period concluded.
The Canadians increased their lead to four after 40 minutes. A loose puck bounded to Corey Perry off the rush for an easy goal and Shea Weber blasted a shot past Nabokov less than a minute later to end the goalie's night.
Russia's Maxim Afinogenov got in behind Canadian defenceman Duncan Keith to give the Russians temporary hope. But then Perry finished off a wonderful passing play from Eric Staal and Getzlaf.
Russian defenceman Sergei Gonchar made it 7-3 with a floater from the blue-line on the power play.
CKA Elite 
![[flag]](./images/smilies/smilie_flag.gif "Canada Flag")
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