First Star: Miikka Kiprusoff, Finland
On a night filled with tremendous performances, Kiprusoff stood above the rest with his 31-save shutout against the Czech Republic. “Kipper” saw steady action every period and was the backbone of a strong win for Finland, who will face Team USA in the semifinals.
Kiprusoff’s strong performance allowed the third period goal by Niklas Hagman to stand up as the game winner. Valtteri Filppula potted an insurance goal on the empty net.
Second Star: Ryan Getzlaf, Canada
Did anyone expect this to happen? Team Canada came out with a similar swagger to what they did against Germany and dominated the game from the drop of the puck. Getzlaf opened the scoring for Canada, then assisted on both of Corey Perry’s tallies in the second as the Canadians breezed past Russia to face a surprising Slovakian team in the semifinals.
Third Star: Marian Hossa, Slovakia
Even more surprising (if that is possible) than Team Canada’s domination against the Russians was Slovakia’s sneaky victory over the defending gold medalists, ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Blake Benzel
Three Stars of the Night: Olympic Edition, the Quarterfinals
February 25th, 2010 by Blake Benzel Leave a reply »
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