Canada, Russians get dream draw to reach gold-medal game

GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — Informed Germany had upset top-seeded Sweden and would be Canada's semifinal opponent, Eric O'Dell's unfiltered reaction didn't last long.

"Oh yeah? Perfe — it doesn't matter," he said, abruptly changing what he was going to say. "We're ready for any team, and every team from here going forward's going to be tough. It really didn't matter for us, but we'll be ready."

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Many Canadians share O'Dell's initial surprise and happiness to face underdog Germany instead of Sweden, and the same can be said for Russians at least relieved to get the Czech Republic and not the faster United States. They have perhaps the best draws they could have imagined on a crash course to the gold-medal game at this Olympic tournament with no NHL players.

The two traditional hockey powerhouses have been clinical but not perfect in getting to this point and should have one final chance to get their games in order for what would be a tense final between two longtime rivals. But Canada overlooking Germany and the "Olympic Athletes from Russia" overlooking Czech Republic would be a mistake.

"They belong in the semifinals," Canada captain Chris Kelly said of the Germans. "They're playing well. They've won two overtime games and last game they were in control. They were up 3-1 in the third period, so we need to be at our best against them. We need to stay in the moment and focus on them. We can't look too far ahead."

Slovakia coach Craig Ramsay said before the tournament that if the Germans get good goaltending they can do some damage. They've gotten that from Danny aus den Birken, who has a 2.43 goals-against average and made 31 saves in a 4-3 overtime victory over Sweden.

Germany had never before beaten Sweden at the Olympics, and after doing so even coach Marco Sturm conceded his team's expectations and goals have changed throughout the tournament.

"It's our dream and we're allowed to dream," said Sturm, who played 14 NHL seasons before moving into coaching. "I think all the athletes who are at the Olympics are allowed to dream and our dream came true and now we're in the top four, so it can't be better that."

The two favorites came in expecting this, and after beating Norway in the quarterfinals, Russian captain Pavel Datsyuk said, "Our dream's still on." The Czech Republic stands in their way, and the Russians watched it beat the United States and the defensive-minded team has improved every game.

"They are good," former NHL player Ilya Kovalchuk said. "They're really strong, they won their group, they beat the Americans who is a really good team, so we need to be prepared."

The Czech Republic will certainly be prepared and have no shortage of belief after knocking off the United States in a shootout. It has gotten similarly strong goaltending from Pavel Francouz, who has stoppednine of 10 attempts in two shootouts, including in the quarterfinals to eliminate the United States. The Czechs have a handful of former NHL players in Roman Cervenka, Jakub Nakladal and captain Martin Erat.

It's starting to feel familiar to Hockey Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek, who led the Czech Republic to the gold medal in 1998 in Nagano by beating Canada and Russia.

"They don't have as many stars as we did in Nagano, but they have some skilled players and they play like a team," Hasek said by phone. "It reminds me a little bit (of) our team in '98. We didn't have as many stars as Americans or Canadians, but we play as a team the best hockey."

Canada has played some of its best hockey, too, and will likely have former New York Islanders goaltender Kevin Poulin in goal against Germany after he replaced injured starter Ben Scrivens during its 1-0 quarterfinal shutout of Finland. General manager Sean Burke called Scrivens day-to-day with a shoulder/collarbone injury and expects the veteran to return. Scrivens did not practice Thursday.

Burke, 51, was a goalie for 15 NHL seasons but isn't eligible to suit up.

"It's not me," he said. "Hopefully it's somebody better than me."