Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber blasted a puck through the net last night.
Tonight, he helped Team Canada blast through the Russians.
Weber had a goal and a plus-2 rating as Canada, who struggled against teams like Switzerland and the United States, steamrolled the Russians, the number one ranked team by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The final score was 7-3.
10 goals were scored yet the two faces of hockey, Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, didn’t register a single point.
San Jose Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov started the game in net for Team Russia and was left in two goals too long. After allowing four goals in the first period, Russian Coach Vyacheslav Bykov opted to leave Nabokov in for the start of the second, instead of pulling him in order to send a message to his team that they were still in it. After Nabby allowed two goals in the opening few minutes of the second stanza, Bykov finally switched goalies in favor of Ilya Bryzgalov. The Phoenix Coyotes netminder put up quite a fight in the futile effort. He ended the game with 18 saves on 19 Canada shots.
Canada, like their North American brothers of the United States, are now guaranteed to play for a medal. Whether they win their next game or not, will determine which medal they’ll be playing for however.
Canada’s will faceoff against the winner of tonight’s Sweden vs. Slovakia game on Friday.