Canada 7, Belarus 1
WEST VALLEY CITY — Call management. Get city officials on the horn. A building name change may be in order.
Forget the E, the Canadians are turning this hockey haven (and heaven) into the Eh Center. The Utah Grizzlies den has become a mecca for Maple Leafs.
Canada — after dismantling underdog-of-the-new-century Belarus 7-1 in the Olympic hockey semifinals Friday — is just one win from claiming the cozy venue as the country's southern gold mine, too.
The Canadian women won gold here Thursday night, beating the USA. Now, Canada's much-ballyhooed men's squad, which sputtered at first, is as hot as Roots apparel.
And just in time, conveniently, for Sunday's gold-medal game against the United States at 1 p.m. in their new home-away-from-home.
"We are proud Canadians. Hockey is our sport back home. Everybody plays and loves to watch it," said Canada superstar Mario Lemieux. "For us to have a chance right now to do something special for our country is something we can all cherish for a long time — if we win a gold medal."
First things first. Canada had to try and do Friday what Sweden wasn't able to Wednesday — beat Belarus. Unfortunately for the Belarussians, they used up their one and only monumental miracle card in the 4-3 quarterfinal shocker over the Swedes.
"I think Belarus let it all out in the game against Sweden," said Canada forward Brendan Shanahan. "Their tank was pretty dry today."
Belarus ran on fumes for a while, thanks to a goal by defenseman Ruslan Salei, the country's only NHLer. But that was all the gas Belarus had. The Canadians cranked 51 shots at Belarus' two goalies, and seven different shooters found the back of the net.
"Our goal," said Lemieux, "was to start fast and . . . discourage them."
Steve Yzerman lit Canada's scoreboard first with a goal six minutes into the contest. Things got interesting for a short while after Salei punched in his equalizer seven minutes later.
But Eric Brewer tallied the game-winner after Yzerman's attempt was poked away by Belarus goalie Andrei Mezin. The 2-1 score after one period provided only short-lived suspense.
Scott Niedermayer, who once played a few games in the E Center for the Utah Grizzlies during a contract dispute, and Paul Kariya each scored second-period goals. Then Canada poured it on in the third with goals from Simon Gagne, Eric Lindros and Jarome Iginla.
Belarus still has a shot at an unexpected medal today when it plays Russia for the bronze at 12:15 p.m.
"We did a lot for our country, so I'm pretty happy. We shouldn't be upset," said Mezin, one of Belarus' heroes in the quarterfinal upset. "Russia will be real tired, so maybe we'll have a chance."
E-MAIL: jody@desnews.com
