In the biggest upset in the Olympic hockey tournament in, oh, 24 hours, Switzerland shut out defending champion Canada 2-0 Saturday.
But of equal interest:
– The U.S. had plenty of chances to at least tie the speedy Slovakians but instead skated off with a 2-1 loss that made the road to the quarterfinals somewhat tougher.
– Jaromir Jagr left the ice with blood pouring out of a cut on his forehead after being rammed into the boards by Finland’s Jarkko Ruutu in the Czech Republic’s 4-2 loss.
Martin Gerber of the Carolina Hurricanes stopped 49 shots as Switzerland followed its stunning victory over the Czechs with the shutout of the gold-medal favorites. Canada needed a win to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals and must now get it against the Finns or Czechs.
“It’s a huge game for Swiss hockey,” Gerber said.
Canada coach Pat Quinn said: “We have talent, but that’s only one part of this thing. If we don’t learn from this, we’ll be going home early.”
For the U.S., the loss to unbeaten Slovakia was “a disappointing outcome, but I thought we played well,” captain Chris Chelios said. “That’s a good team.”
While the Americans held a 30-21 shot advantage, they couldn’t do much with goalie Peter Budaj of the Colorado Avalanche.
“We just can’t convert our chances,” Chelios said. “We had the puck up the middle of the ice a lot and didn’t get anything to show for it.”
Chelios was in the middle of the game-losing goal. Pestering Miroslav Satan behind the U.S. goal, Chelios fell and Satan quickly passed out front to Peter Bondra, who buried the shot.
Despite the injury to Jagr, Czech coach Alois Hadamczik said the NHL’s leading scorer had not suffered a concussion while being driven into the boards by Ruutu. But Hadamczik was incensed.
“The shadow of this game is the foul on Jaromir Jagr,” he said.
Finland stayed unbeaten, while the Czechs must deal with injuries to their two best players, Jagr and goalie Dominik Hasek.
Slovakia (3-0-0) is atop Group B. Group A leader Finland (3-0-0) is the only other unbeaten team.
The top four teams in each six-team group will advance to the quarterfinals Wednesday. The U.S. will play Sweden on Sunday and Russia on Tuesday.
