The Hockey PDOcast - Breaking Down Canada’s Overtime Win Against Czechia in the Quarterfinal

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to break down Canada's overtime win over Czechia in the quarterfinal, all of the biggest moments throughout the game, and potential adjustments to make ahead of Friday's semifinal matchup against Finland. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the HockeyPedioCast. My name is Dmitra Filipovich. And joining me is my good buddy Thomas Trans. Tom, what's going on, man? My heart rate is still not resting. I am still worked up about that Canada game.

I mean, that was the most fun you can have watching hockey. If you enjoy being terrified. You know, it's like two and a half. half hours of the up part of the roller coaster all for one moment where you're like, yes, when Mitch Marner scores a three-on-three overtime goal. Big game, Mitch. Big game Mitch. I mean, he's the clutches guide everywhere, Maple Leaf.

And I mean, an incredible goal by him. I loved some of what we saw from Nick Suzuki, especially responding to a stretch of the game where I thought the pressure was getting to him. Yeah, let's not release the text that you sent midgame. I was so concerned about him, Mark Stone, Mitch Marner, that line, and then all of them came up big because it wasn't just that you get the Suzuki goal, which was incredible. We'll talk about it, the Marner goal, which was also incredible. But Mark Stone makes an incredible defensive play late in the third period to relieve some of the pressure that stemmed from that natious break opportunity. So, yeah, I mean, a remarkable game, a remarkable spectacle, and a good reminder of just how one.

things can get in single game elimination. Undoubtedly. Okay, let's set the table because there's so much for us to work throughout and make sure we cover all the important stuff. And so let's go in chronic logical order and kind of set the table by breaking down all the main beats that we saw throughout Canada's 4-3 victory in overtime against Chequille. We're recording this on quarterfinal Wednesday at the Olympics. An awesome day of hockey throughout four quarter-final matchups setting up the semis that are to come on Friday, you and I are going to go through all our main takeaways of it.

You know what? I'm curious for your take on this, because I know that you were expecting a closer game, I think, here than I was. And I think I was partly influenced or biased by not as much the first meeting between these two teams, which was the first game for both sides of this tournament. I was almost willing to throw that one away. For me, it was the other viewings I got to check you.

in the meantime, and maybe not counting their qualifying round victory over Denmark, but the games against Switzerland and even France where the state of this blue line, I think, makes them vulnerable. And so they clearly have offensive firepower to keep up with any team at this tournament. But I just thought they'd be so vulnerable coming back the other way that they wouldn't ultimately be able to keep up. And all the models certainly reflected that. I think Canada was around an 80% favorite heading into this game.

and yet we got an absolute cinematic experience, I thought, where you had that legitimate scare, you got an overtime finish, you got two teams trading punches, I think doing so in very different ways stylistically as well. And I think part of that is indicative of what we typically see in these games where the underdog generally is not going to have a lot of possession time or zone time and be able to sort of assert their will down low off the cycle.

they're going to have to be reliant on counter opportunities. Because they're going to be in their zone more often. And so the opportunity is going to arise more frequently for them. And that's exactly what Chekiy had did in this game. Pretty much all of their most dangerous looks came off of counter opportunities, odd man rushes. And I want to get into how that kind of materialized for them. And whether now that Canada has survived this scare and this test and has advanced at a

semi-final is something we should keep in our back of our minds as we, forecast their semifinal matchup and a potential head-to-head meeting against the U.S. and the final. Yeah. So, I mean, the reason I expected this to be close is that this is a check-ya team. Like, I remember talking to David Camp right before, right after Vancouver had lost their final game prior to the Olympic break. And we were just sort of talking about the tournament generally.

And he had this line. He had this line that stuck it out in my head as I went to bed last. night, I saw it in my nightmares. And it was... You're sitting in bed thinking about David Camp? I was thinking about this quote, yeah. And it was, these tournaments, they're all about the quarter final game. Right?

And it's like, this Chechia team, they've won the worlds. Like most of this roster was on that team that won the world in Prague. They've played together a lot. They know how to win these tournaments. They know how to overachieve it, these tournaments. And Canada has this pressure on them where it's gold or bust, right? where you're ramping up for the gold medal game. And Chechia knows that really it's all about just making the money rounds.

Make it to the metal rounds and it sorts itself out. They ramp up for the quarterfinal game. That was something that just stuck in my head. And honestly, had me nervous about this game well in advance of it starting. Even though I thought, like I will say I thought, especially given that Chechia was playing back to back and that Canada has forechecked so devastatingly well throughout this tournament, I thought they'd eventually be able to pretty decisively overwhelm the checks with those hard rims. Especially after the first shift.

Yeah. They generated a great A for Connor McAidavill. Exactly that. Kel MacArthur pinches down low. Tom Wilson gets it out to them. And you're like, we're off and running. This is just going to be the blueprint for leaning on them all game. Well, and that part of their game worked somewhat consistently.

I mean, that was the best part of Canada's game. But they weren't able to take the game over with it. And I think in part it's because Czechia came out and played this one full. they sat back. Team Canada and I think Cooper and his staff would be the first people to tell you this. Canada didn't adjust quickly enough.

In fact, Canada didn't adjust well enough to it, period. You know, they weren't like going to anchoring plays in the neutral zone. They weren't sort of going to a post-up game and looking for speed in that manner. They just kept trying to break through it. And I thought that got them into trouble. It allowed the checks to hang around.

And then Canada, you saw start to get frustrated and start to feed the Czechos rush attack or Chequia's rush attack with their own puck management errors. And so I thought that was one part of the Chequia game plan very different from how they approached the first game that paid huge dividends and put something meaningful on tape for the Finnish coaching staff in the event that they face Finland to scout, or the Americans, to scout,

although the Americans won't play a 1-4 against Canada. And I'd add this, I thought the checks were super disciplined about keeping pucks away from Bennington when they were dumping it in. And I thought that did expose some of the transporting limitations of the Canada back end, right? I thought Bennington was not as big a factor

as a puck handler in this game as he had been in that first one. So again, I think the fact that Cheki actually did get a look at Canada earlier in this tournament and made some sharp adjustments and threw the kitchen sink at them and put that effort out there on the ice, played for pride as sort of a

you know like a prize fighter that knows every trick in the book to make these games far more interesting than they maybe should be on paper I thought they brought that to bear and I don't think Canada handled it as well as they could have in terms of execution. Yeah, in terms of putting stuff on tape for Canada's future opponents at this tournament, I'm right there with you. I thought that

Chequille was very disciplined in terms of lining up in the neutral zone and providing at least some level of resistance that proved to be enough for pretty much everyone on Canada's roster, except for Connor McDavid unsurprisingly, right? We had that one very spirited violent rush from Nathan McKinnon on the power play late in the second period where it looked like he was going to score a highlight real goal and was stopped by Dostal. But beyond that, I can't remember too many more instances other than, I guess, when it opened up at three-on-three for Mitch Marner to score the game-winning goal,

where a Canadian 4 was able to navigate the neutral zone effectively carrying the puck and then attacking downhill. And that's why you get to the point where by the scoring trans numbers I tracked, the rush chances at 515 were 10-5 in favor of Chequia. Canada was only able to generate five rush chances all game at 5-15, despite all the talent level they have on this team. And I don't want to take away anything from the job Chequia did here, but the future opponents for Canada at this tournament,

as far as they go, are going to be, I think, even better equipped to play some level of this style against them in terms of sitting back a little bit in the neutral zone and forcing them to come to them and then not allowing them to successfully carry the puck. And so I know you and I have spoken a lot about how the dynamics of this tournament are different than your typical NHL game because of the neutral zone and it is more of a dump-and-chaise style of play and attacking via that. but you're going to need to find ways to create some easier, more high danger looks that have a higher probability of scoring,

which are going to come via the rush, and it's going to have to exceed five rush chances, I think, over the course of a full game. Yeah, yeah. Indirect pass to the post-up guy, right? Catch and carry. I mean, did we see them even go for that entry once? They did it once with actually Tom Wilson.

Right, okay. They used him as an anchor, and he was kind of like just inside the blue line as opposed to in the neutral zone as you'd expect. And it was a very successful one. They got a great look off of them. And that was the one time I can remember them doing that. And I'll bet you, like dollars to donuts as the hockey Canada coaching staff takes the train home because apparently they've been using public transpos after games.

That'll be something they're talking about. Like we got to work on that. We got to get that in our repertoire. We've got to have that fix. Because like Finland, if they face Finland and we're recording this as the, the United States and Sweden are still playing in the third period here. In the event that, like, Finland will be willing to play a 4-1. No question about it.

Right? I think, in fact, they'd like to. So, I mean, Canada's going to have to come with different answers than they had today because they really didn't generate anything off the rush outside of the three-on-three segment of the game. Yeah. And maybe a little bit off the power play when they have McKinnon dropping. And McGavinich is operating at a different speed than anyone else in this one. And that was the other part of this.

I mean, as well as Chequia played, I mean, there's a world where McDavid takes two of those opportunities or his linemates take two of those opportunities that that line generated. And it's three one after 20 minutes. And no one in Canada has, you know, the sorts of cardiac events that were mass experienced in this country this morning, you know, between 740 and 10 a.m. Pacific time. But that's not how it went. And I guess I guess this would be. the other part of this is that Sydney Crosby leaves the game hurt. Yep.

And we don't know his status. But I think we have a sense that that might be a punch that Canada, you know, I want to say can't afford to take. But I don't know that it's a punch that Canada can afford to take if they're intent on playing Celebrini McDavid and McKinnon on the same line together. Like I don't know that you can load up if you don't have a sort of secondary attacking line that can play as well as. Stone Crosby and Marner have in this tournament. I'd say other than Marner, it didn't really feel like Canada's other supporting attacking options posed a consistent threat in this one. Obviously, Suzuki comes through, and then Marner comes through and three-on-three,

you need guys to step up, and Canada got that. So I don't want to take things away from that, but in terms of game flow, I think Canada might have to fatten their lineup in the event that Crosby can't go. Well, here's the thing. I thought the first period was very evenly played beyond just the score, right? And Chequia comes out of that, going into intermission up to 1 after Pastor Nax. Power play goal, but all the shots and chances were about as even as you're going to get. And I thought it was very evenly played by both sides.

And then Crosby gets hurt early in the second. And Canada's feeling a little bit of added sense of urgency, trailing for the first time at this tournament. And I think that kind of emboldened John Cooper to just go full time to loading up that line with McKinnon playing with Celebrity and McDavid, which they didn't do to start this game. and I think the level Canada was able to reach offensively there is the pushback I'd give to what you just said

and acknowledging that it's going to have its ramifications in terms of trickle down, further down a lineup. But man, those three guys are so devastating. They really are together. And that second period where it was very one-sided and kind of a landslide directionally towards Chequia's defensive zone, it was just a constant barrage of these shifts where there'd be two, three, four scoring chances in a row.

And eventually they broke through in the power play. And I guess it was a well-time discussion that you and I had. Obviously, we didn't want to see it happen because of a Crosby injury. But the last time you and I spoke on Monday, I believe, we were talking about this Canada PowerPlay 1 and either putting Stone or Celebrini on it. What we saw was Celebrini step in a Crosby's role in the goal line. And they create that goal off that interchange where him and McDavid swap spots.

McDavid sends a cross seam to McKinnon for the, goal. And by the way, I had this in my notes and in my recap, but you know how in football we have the octopus where a guy scores a touchdown and then gets the ensuing two-point conversion? We need some sort of a gimmicky name in hockey for when a player draws a penalty

and then scores a power play goal on the ensuing power play. Right. Do you name it after like someone, let you name it like a Dustin Brown? Do you name it after someone who did it a lot? I think we can be more ambitious than that. Like a dusty? You know what? We'll workshop it. We'll let our listeners

maybe China. You like that though, I can tell. Yeah, I mean... Let me close the loop on just that top line, though. Sure, okay. I'd argue what makes them most special, and it's not the game-breaking puck skills and devastating speed that's certainly there.

Mike Johnson did a great job of bringing this up on the broadcast. Their closing speed in puck pursuit is absolutely diabolical. Yes. And it forces you to make a lot of quick decisions. There's going to be ensuing mistakes. all of a sudden, I think that is a way to counteract whatever rush limitations this roster might have just because all of a sudden now, that's probably their best forechecking unit.

It's the one that's going to be most likely to create turnovers and sustain zone time and then allow other guys to step onto the ice in advantageous territorial positions. And that is what we saw in that second period. Some of those shifts were just, you know, Chequil was holding on for dear life and they didn't surrender a 5-on-5 goal to them. But if you replay that 10 times, a good number of them probably result in like three or four Canada goals. I think you can consider it to start the game,

but you've got to have a short hook for it because, you know, like I liked some of what we got out of Hegel, Horvatt, Seth Jarvis, but they didn't have a ton of chances. It felt like Canada was very reliant on that top line to manufacture chances. And in a trailing game state, that added to my stress level as a viewer because it just felt like once McDavid said, every time they go off, you're just waiting for the next shift. Right.

And obviously Suzuki ends up, you know, making the difference. So it's not as if that, it's not as if that perception or that feeling necessarily bore itself out. But I think it did in terms of the rate at which quality looks were being generated. You know, Suzuki, I'd be willing to give a little bit more time. I mean, I actually liked the play to Harley up top before the shop block into the extra skater and on and on. There were moments in this game when I texted. So I don't remember exactly what I texted you, but I texted you. but I texted you.

He said he's feeling the pressure. Which I think he was. Was that right after he missed the open net? No, it wasn't after the, exactly. So he misses the open net and you saw him wear it for like a very long period of time on the ice. Like he wore that miss. And then he just kept losing draws. And he's a solid faceoff guy.

But he, I mean, he lost like four or five draws in a row, in a row, some of them in the defensive zone. And it felt to me like he was a little bit off kilter, like a little bit on tilt. And there was a shift late in the second where it was like a 50-50 to finish the hit or not, and he did it. And it was a, I liked seeing it because it's like, that's a good way to get yourself back in the game, right? I thought maybe that was something. And then I thought he actually started to play much better. And by the end, I thought that line started to have really productive shifts on a more regular basis. And obviously he comes through with a tremendous bit of work on sort of a delayed change there.

The, I'm open to seeing that line. I'm open to seeing that Horvat line get enough. bit of run, but if you're not generating early on against Finland in your current alignment, like if it's really all coming through one line, I think you have to have a plan B. I don't, is maybe winning at the top end of your lineup is your best route to beating some of these best teams, especially because I don't think you can, especially without Crosby, although honestly, maybe anyway. I don't know if Canada has as high a gear as what we're seeing from the United States is they just completely oppress Sweden with this combination of speed and range.

I mean, it's a terrifying performance that we're seeing from this American machine. So maybe Canada's best answer is like we're going to build goal differential at the top of our lineup and hold serve elsewhere. Fine. Maybe that is the answer. But I worry that if you get in, especially if you start trailing and the temptation is going to be to load it up. And I actually worry if that takes the teeth out of your attack, especially if Crosby's not there to, you know, hold down what was a. really strong second line for Canada throughout this tournament to this point. I do think it might maybe a bit of a different dynamic if you're starting off the game

with it in a neutral game script and you're kind of like allowing for more runaway for the trickle-down effect that we've talked about of if that line is just dominating and wrecking the game for the other team and their game plan to such a great extent. I feel like everyone else is going to benefit from it along the way and maybe they're going to get some easier opportunities than they would otherwise and so you're going to get a leveling up from the other lines. because of that as an added byproduct. Do you want to get into breaking down a couple of the goals?

Sure. Because I've got a lot of notes on that. And I want to start with the first goal of this game early on. I believe it was Connor McDavid's second shift. And I noted, I think he beat every single Czechoskater on the ice in one form or another within this like 15 to 20 second span in there, where in the neutral zone, he like initially picks the guy a break in the puck up the puck up the ice,

forces him to send it back to a teammate, Then he breaks up the pass of the blue line. Then he knocks it away from Yanruda in the neutral zone. Then he steals it from Pasternak. And then he sends this no look behind the back pass through two defenders' legs to Celebrini for the quick finish. It was just an outrageous goal. I feel like those guys almost have the puck on their sticks like Velcro sometimes. Like it just seems like it's just sticking to it and they're able to create so much.

The Suzuki goal. Yes. I don't think we can overstate. how important it was, obviously, within the context of if it doesn't happen, we're looking at the reality that the Canada loses this in the quarterfinal, and it's obviously going to lead to this referendum. And John Cooper has his passport revoked? Yeah, and it was catastrophic for any number of reasons.

I think individually for Suzuki, though, for some of the stuff you were saying, where even earlier in this tournament, through the three group stage games, I thought he was pretty unfairly maligned for his performance, because I think we, become kind of accustomed to looking at this all-star roster and everyone's kind of capable of these highlight real video game style plays and that's not really Suzuki's game for the most part he does a lot of his damage in a much more subtle kind of connective ways that we've seen throughout this tournament and all of a sudden now he's playing on the wing um with mckinan who i think provides certain challenges for a guy

like him to keep up with and play with and the crosbie injury allows him to step back into the middle centering that stone, Marner line, and the shift leading up to that goal where it wound up being like an 80 second shift for him, I think all told. Yeah. And about a minute into it,

his linemates go off for a change. And he just keeps the puck in the neutral zone, dumps it in, beats Philopronic down the ice, knocks him off the puck behind the net, sends it out front, and then beats Ronick again in front of the net for a tip on a shot that I'm not sure

if Duonte was meant to do it, but it looked like it was going quite wide. Yeah. And he just sticks his stick out and essentially redirects it back in past Lucas Dostal. And it was such an incredibly important goal for him, I think, as well. Like it was obviously a toning for the miss earlier in the game. But I think putting on full display what makes him so special. And we've talked about how I actually do think he's like a pretty clutch player in the moments we've gotten to see him play important games,

which have obviously been limited over the past couple years for the Canadians. Won't be for the next few. He came through in this one. And it was an very important moment for him. and the team. And so I was excited because I was already bracing for the text that you sent me, except like magnified by a thousand with many worse words mixed in. And people just all of a sudden blaming him for this loss as opposed to all the other reasons that are probably much more practical. And we at least get to avoid that for another day. And so I'm very excited for him and for everyone

involved. The thing I love about that play is when he dumps it in, you can see him. shoulder check. He considers going to the bench. And then he's like, I'll keep, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll go in and I'll buy my fresh line made some time. And then he throws the hit on Hironic and Hironic loses position on the wall. So he's like, okay, well, I've got it here. I'm going to, you know, I might as well, put it high, low to high. And then he's like, okay, well, I'm at the net and Taves looks like he's setting up for a shot. So I'll go to the net. And then after this, I'll get off. But like at every moment he was assessing whether he should be doing what he's doing. And then it results in, a goal of historic importance for Canadian men's hockey.

Incredible. Just I loved everything about that play. And you know what? I think you're right. I think he would have been unfairly maligned. The miss was too bad, but also those happened. Yep. I think it was the reaction to the miss that had me rattled.

And then the fact that he kept losing all those draws. And that's another part of this, by the way, that comes out of this game. Like, check you a cleaned Canada's clock in the circle. And I'm not a big face-off sky. But if you're winning 70%, it starts to shape the game. Situationally for sure. And we're seeing Team USA feast off of offensive zone draw wins to manufacture goals. In fact, it's been their most reliable source of offense.

And so just one thing to note is Canada is going to have to find a way to do an awful lot better than that in the event that they don't have Crosby in the circle. Because Team USA is going to make them pay if they're not winning in the D zone. Flat out. Now, the load of high stuff that, I feel like earlier in this tournament, we were praising somewhat in terms of it being in line with what we're seeing with the way this tournament's being played and how Canada was grinding out some of these cycle shifts where they were just leading on the other team for a minute, minute and a half at a time and creating looks off of that, especially with the Crosby, Marner Stone unit out there. I think you could see the pitfalls of that certainly in this game where that was Chequia's cleanest path towards offense, where we'll break down the three. two goal that Pilate scores because I've got a lot of takes on that. But even afterwards, right, like for all of all the resulted from that, Suzuki comes down and scores, and we're probably

having an entirely different conversation here if Natchez is able to beat Biddington on that breakaway with about a minute and a half or so left, right? And it comes off of a very similar play where the puck works its way up to the point, Devon Taves, attempts a shot from the point. It gets blocked by Natchez and all of a sudden he's off to the races for that breakaway. And so I think they do have to be really careful about that. Like a guy like Kail Makar and even, I know Harley got his shot blocked leading to the three two goal, but those guys are generally more sensible

about like using their deception and skating to open up a lane and especially shoot from the middle of the ice. Some of these other defensemen though, I think need to be very cognizant of that. We saw it from Taves. I think Pareko certainly checks into this as well. And so I don't know, I don't know how you feel about that.

But like that was, it was very evident watching this that that was going to be the most pure source of offense for Czechia, and they benefited from time and time again. I think Team Canada, one thing as the team Canada looks at a whiteboard and tries to figure out takeaways and use today's game as a learning experience ahead of the metal round games. I think the like one note that I would like to see them come to is that they have to be more disciplined about self-matching to keep the McDavid lines minutes, especially if the McDavid line's going to be the tip of the spear and you're going to keep it loaded up,

are not corresponding with like Sanheim Parakeos shifts or Pareco shifts generally. You know, like, if there's touches from the point, it should be Theodore, it should be Morrissey if he's back, it should be Harley, it should be Taves, it should be McCar. Right? Like I thought there were a lot of cycle shifts that, you know, honestly went to waste because some of Canada's more special.

specialized defensive personnel, couldn't pull off, at least not cleanly enough, some of the interchanges that Canada wants to do up high to open up space in the middle. I mean, in the first period, coming out of a TV timeout, John Cooper sent for an offensive zone draw, the Sanheim-Berke-O pair. And as soon as I saw that, I was like, well, this is not going to lead to a goal. No. And I think they really need to be more careful about that. Yeah.

Let's go to break here real quick. And then when we come back, we're going to jump right back into it and keep working our way through the Chequia Canada post game from today's quarterfinal. You're listening to the Hockeypedio guest streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. All right, we're back here in the Hockeyedio cast. joined by Thomas Drans for doing our postgame show for Chequia Canada. Tom, before we went to break, we were talking about some of the load of high stuff that burned Canada and this one and benefited Chequia.

The best example of that was the 3-2 goal with 742 left. They had put Chequia up momentarily before Suzuki's tying goal. And, you know, I'm sitting here in the office. watching it live and I'm tracking the game throughout like I have every game so far this tournament and watching the play develop I'm like all right so checkie is coming down three on two they've got pastronach natius and pallat out there and pilat winds up scoring off a nice little pass by natius as the trailer and then I go back and rewatch to see how it materialized and how they were in that spot to begin with and I'm like oh tomash hurdle made a really nice block

stepping into the lane and stopping a Harley shot. And then I'm thinking, how did they have four forwards out there at one time? And then I'm like, for a second, I allowed myself to dream that we saw an underdog increase their risk profile by saying, we don't want to get this into overtime because we don't have as much talent as this team and we're probably going to lose. And so it's a tie game. It's late in the third. Let's just send our four best forwards out there, go four forwards, one defenseman,

and try to create a goal and steal this. thing while we still can. And all of a sudden, that's not what happened. And what really did happen was, as the puck works, it's way back in the Czech D zone, Sarenka and Sedlac come off the ice, Natchis and Pilat jump on, but Pasternak stays on. And so they wound up having six guys. I screenshot this to you. I send it to you.

You're like, I'm going to tweet this out because you're on Twitter for some reason during these games. No, and I tweeted it out after the game. Oh, okay. But it's because I, so I was also watching it. And I was just like, man, I don't like that shot selection by Harley. That's such a weird place for the forward to be on the ice. And then I was watching the clip down ice. And I'm like, why?

Like, if you were to draft which Canadian players, one forward, one D, you have to pick one forward. You would want sorting out a three on two. I mean, Suzuki and Douty are among the top. four names you're listing, right? Like up there with um, Raiko. Paraco or Taves. You know, and I mean, that's probably it, right? And I was like, why did they get so lost? Like, why couldn't they sort out

that three on two coverage at all? And then you sent me that screenshot and it immediately clicked. Because I, and so this is, this is where like I think Team Canada needs to notice this. I think, I think someone, I can't believe that not only no one noticed it, but the broadcast itself showed, like, Like 10 different replays over the course of the next 10 minutes and was never referenced. So I'm not going to blame them for that because I didn't realize it.

But I do think like it's surprising. Well, I can't believe it because Mike Johnson is the best in the business at pointing this stuff out. Like, he sees way more than I ever do. I think it's because it wasn't by the bench. Yeah. I think it's because it wasn't by the bench. It was literally just a guy snuck on. And no one at any point just went 666.

Like if anyone at any point goes six to the referees, the play ends. And Canada gets a power play opportunity. And I watched it time and time again Trying to figure out how did Doughty and Suzuki Struggle so heartily given how good they are at this To sort out a three on two And until you sent me that screenshot The moment you did I was just like, what?

Blew my mind. And then of course there's the Chequia head coach. You see this already? No. The Chequia head coach was talking to reporters and complaining about the refereeing before he'd seen That they had six guys on the eyes. And he had a quote where he said,

with the way this game was called, it felt like we were playing against six players out there. Which is like truly one of the most regrettable bits of coach speak in the history of professional sports. Well, it was a great look for us because I believe our tweet, our shared tweet there was being referenced on site by everyone as they were getting quotes and asking people involved. Let's go. What their thoughts were on it, including John Cooper, just smiling and walking away. Yeah. Which I imagine would have been a different tone had the outcome not gone the way it did. When it was close personal friend of ours, Patrick Johnston, apparently. who was hounding Cooper for a reaction to the too many men on the ice.

Look, I'm just glad that that ultimately wasn't the deciding goal, right? Like, if Canada had lost in that manner, if this Olympic tournament had been decided in that manner, I think that would have been, A, something we would have talked about for years. We haven't seen Best on Best Olympic Hockey featuring the men's Canadian team in a long time. 10 years plus for it to have ended like that would have been, I think intolerable, genuinely intolerable. Yes. All right, here's another big X factor in this game.

So we've spoken a lot about Jordan and Biddington's rebound control. And I think you could certainly see that over the course of this game as well. It started early, I believe Chekiya's first chance was a pretty harmless shot coming down the wing. And Biddington chooses to kind of blocker it away. And it's right to David Camp who has a wide open net. and you'd expect an NHL player to bury that, and he just misses the net cleanly on it. Then later on, you get another point shot from David Spachick, and Bennington kicks it out, and it comes to David Kamp in the slot, and he has a bunch of net to shoot at, and he hits it off the bar.

And the reason I point that out is I was on Kinnock's talk with you yesterday, and we were going through a draft of the personnel decisions or, you know, selection process that we take most issue with now that we've gotten the benefit of seeing some of this tournament. and a late one for me that I just kind of mixed in was I really don't like the fact that Chequia has responded to a couple games of Tomas Hurtle not scoring and not looking productive or quite like himself and demoted him to the point where he's playing on a third line with neither Pashtenac or Natchez

and to facilitate that, they wound up moving camp up the lineup and he's playing with their top players and the puck as it always does. Remember the postseason where Mitch Marnock kept passing it to Joel Edmondson and he was always open and missing the net and everyone was like, I can't believe this is happening. It's like, well, this stuff has a funny way of working itself out. Usually there's a reason a guy's open, but in this case also, like sometimes you just, you can't use it as an excuse if you have inferior players on the ice. Like, you need to have guys who are going to be able to take advantage of whatever balances you get.

And I imagine despite his struggles, Tom Oshurtle probably buries at least one, if not both of those, considering the quality of the look and his skill level and his track record. And I, would not expect David can have to score a lot of those as I've watched his entire NHL career. And those were wasted opportunities for a team that did not have a lot of in-zone opportunities like that. I think he has like 35 points across his last like 140 NHL games, right? I'm surprised it's that high, to be honest. And I think he's a player who has utility, but it's not standing in the slot and converting

high-dangered chances. No, it's preventing you from doing that. Yes. And so, yeah, no, I mean, I think that's fair comment. Bennington ultimately came up huge. Yeah, the same on ages at the end descended into overtime for sure. And then the save in overtime. Was that also on Marty Natchez?

No. I think it was Natchez passing it to Schemick. Schemick, right. That was also a nail save. So Binnington gets it done. I don't know that we, it's funny because I agree with you. There were some spills into the slot where I was like, oh, man, those make me nervous. But the goals that beat Bittington, are there any that you'd think he should have?

No, they were all quality. Yeah. That Pasternak shot was a nightmare. I mean, wow. But the, so, and then obviously the clean. look off the rush. So yeah, I mean, I just kind of can't see how he should have. But yeah, I mean, look, the seams still show.

And yet when the chips are down, he seems to come up big every time it matters. It's like, I don't even know what to, what do we even say about it about it anymore? I think everything we just said. Is he good enough? I think it was fair. I think I've been working a little bit with Chris Bronger during the Olympics. and his line to me was no one in Canada is going to be comfortable with their goal tending

and including me until they either win or they don't and that's just the truth of it and that would be true whether Logan Thompson was in the net and that's certainly going to be true if Jordan Bittington's in the net. You know, we mentioned Natch's there and we've mentioned them a couple times and the Pasternak goal I thought both guys on Chequist's side

were incredible in this game. I thought Pasternak's third period in particular where he had a couple shifts and I was texting you about this like his playmaking on those sequences was next level and he's become so good as a passer and distributor after coming into the league

and being more of a spot-up shooter and goal scorer he's become one of the best facilitators in the league as Morgan Gigi can attest to with his goals over the past two years and he was setting up a ton of them and then I had Marty and Hs for seven chance contributions in this game which led the team tied to Pastor Nack

He was awesome man It was it's he was throwing the body too. It was functionally much more because he had a lot of like second chance assists where he would be the one pushing the pace carrying the puck up the ice getting them set in the neutral zone and then there was that one rush sequence right where he like does all the hard work he passes it over to I think it was spot check who I've referenced twice now for some reason and then he gets it over to sedlack and they get a great look off that and they just doesn't get credit for it by my tracking but he really did all the hard work to get them there in the first place and his skating was awesome

I did like though, you know, I was watching the, their qualifying round game against Denmark. And he was just, he had them in the torture chamber all game with all these like spin moves and the cutbacks and everything the NAC just does on puck. And in the first shift of this game, he tries to do that. And Nathan McKinnon is very, is clearly quite familiar with his tricks. And he caught him with his head down and just completely knocked him off the puck and led to a four check chance. And it was really funny in terms of that, uh, that scouting within the team. And he was all over that. that point, I thought NACIS was, other than McDavid, arguably the most dangerous player on the ice.

Yeah. No, I thought this was, and I think this has been true all tournament. I mean, he's been the one part of Chequia's game that I think met or exceeded expectations in this tournament. They, I guess, their team did today in the quarterfinal. But for the most part, I would say this wasn't a tournament where they filled you with a lot of confidence. You just saw that they know exactly how to play and win here. but he was clearly the tip of the spear of that attack. Pasternak, obviously, is their most important player.

But, I mean, this guy's a legit, gamebreaker, a legit star now. Well, especially because in Colorado, he just shares the ice with Nathan Bikinnon for such a high percentage of the time that I think it's kind of easy to underrate him or just give a lot of the attention and love to McKinnon. But even in this tournament, right?

Like, they start this event off playing him with Pasternak. They get shut out by Canada, they split the two of them up and then Nate just goes on for the next four games they play and is their most dangerous player driving his own line and so I think that is really impressive he really stood out to me you got any other notes from this one

that we didn't get into yet whether it's takeaways observations adjustments moving forward as we still wait to find out who Canada will be playing in the semifinal like I don't know if you give any stock to that sort of this this talking point of like

the adversity angle because the first three games in the group stage were such a cakewalk for the most part, right? We're too easy. There was one first period against Switzerland, and we were like all over how competitive it was, and then the rest of the game really wasn't. They had not trailed at all heading into this game, and they come out of this one,

having trailed for, I think, like, 21 total minutes of this one, and came within four minutes of losing and regulation. And so I'm not sure if there's anything necessarily to take away from that, other than it was a heck of an effort by Chequia, and I'm really glad we got that game, because it was very entertaining to watch. I just think the Canadian health angle here is becoming a real story. We expect that Canada will get Josh Morrissey back.

I think they need that on their back end. But Crosby, questionable. Sam Bennett didn't practice Tuesday, didn't play Wednesday. I thought the Wilson, Reinhardt, Marchand, quickly thrown together, fourth line was non-functional. Like, I don't think that's going to work for them, even if they're not playing very much. And also I think this Canadian team is going to need to find a way to get Sam Reinhart more involved.

I mean, he is one of this team's six best forwards. Flat out. Like I just, I know that, even though he hasn't made that sort of impact in this tournament to this point. So, you know, for me, the injury storyline is really the big thing that I'm not worried about, but interested to see how it sorts itself out, especially because I, you know, I'm just not certain that Canada has the depth. well, no one has the depth to lose Sidney Crosby and another center in this tournament given the way that the roster rules function.

But, you know, I think that could leave them shorthanded in the semis depending on what the news is over the next 48 hours on both of those gentlemen. Yeah, I'm really curious to see what the future plan is for Jarvis as we get into the semifinal because I know you are all over once he got announced as an injury replacement that his value and utility in a tournament like this. And I think, I think,

I think we saw it today. Flexibility also in terms of various roles, regardless of where you slot him in the lineup. But I believe he starts this game playing with Horvad and Suzuki on this kind of like cobbled together, bottom six line. And his first shift, he goes out there. He wins a bunch of battles. He's like first in to retrieve a puck.

He winds up drawing a penalty by just moving his feet, getting after a loose puck. And then I think Cooper realized that he had juiced that a lot of his other forwards didn't. and then we got to actually see him on an occasional shift or either like laid in the shift staying on and playing with McKinnon and Hegel. And so I wonder if they sprinkle him in a little bit more

because certainly as you get into the semifinal and potentially a final, I think they're going to need guys who can just make stuff happen in a more dynamic manner and maybe not be as half-courtish as they are at times, especially in this game. Yeah, and I think they should. I think there's a lot of players

that he can compliment well on this team. I mean, there were multiple shifts where he got in, caused the turnover, you know, with some work as a forechecker, and then ultimately ended up drawing a penalty, right? That was a key part of this game. And he did that early, right? And then got elevated up the lineup because I think Canada was looking for a spark and he was providing it. I thought there were moments where he wasn't assertive enough as a playmaker, right? I think there's still a slotting in terms of where he fits on the hockey Canada pecking order. but we know how good he can be taking pucks to the net with reckless abandon, making plays,

functioning as a shooter, calling his own number. So I think I'd actually like to see him be more assertive offensively if he gets to play. Like I thought they might have been on to something with Jarvis, Horvatt, Hagel, generally. It would certainly be a very annoying line to play against. Totally. And they've got some speed and they've got some pace. And in Horvatt, they've got some size. Yeah, I think Horvatt has definitely looked apart in his tournament.

I know people were a bit worried about his foot speed and, like, this idea that he wouldn't be able to keep up and need to be more like a situational face-off guy and special teams, but he's been flying around. I mean, he had a great rush chance in this game, one of the few that the Canada was able to get away from McDavid. And I think he's certainly earned the benefit of additional usage. Yeah, no, I agree. I agree wholeheartedly. And I think Jarvis also, right? Like, they need that pace, man. They need that pace. And I did, I did just think there were a few, too many times where he was deferring a little bit, just putting Pucks back up high. I think he can do more offensively, and I don't know if it's just that he's like trying to play the role,

trying to fit in, as opposed to being what he can be, which, as we see with the Carolina Hurricanes, a guy pacing to score 40 goals this year. Like, he can be a real threat. Okay. I'm just looking at my notes. I was a bit harsh on our guy, MJ, for not pointing out in the heat of the moment. Sure. The check you having the extra skater out there, I do want to give him credit for I was laughing quite hard when watching this live.

there was a sequence where Pereko gets in the neutral zone and McDavid's doing the thing where he like slingshots and he starts to build up speed through the middle and he's got space. And in the moment, Mike Johnson's just yelling, give it to him. And Pregos just freezes and holds it and then winds up, dumping it in

and go back and let's do it. Everybody just lets out like an audible like groan. And it was so good. It really was the puck on stick, Colton Poreko experience. Incredible stuff. Another reason why I don't think he should necessarily be trusted to take a regular shift, especially in a neutral or potentially trailing

game script the way this one was. Yeah. No, I mean, I think they need to, well, and if Morrissey comes back, you'd expect Sandheim to draw out of the lineup. Yep. So, I mean, that will at least help Team Canada resist the temptation for those Sanheim Pareko minutes, which they clearly like a lot more than everyone else watching. And fair enough, that's, you know, like the Tampa Bay Lightning do everything right, except evaluating stay-at-home defenders, right? So this is like a Cooper classic. I had someone tell me that like, this is a very John Cooper thing in terms of building players up from a confidence perspective, right? Of like putting them in these positions when you feel like you have a bit of leeway or margin for error and like hoping that that vote of confidence or faith that you show in them is going to lead to them unexpectedly contributing in a big moment.

And I think that's great in the group stages. I think in elimination games, especially when you have a game like this where any one of those plays could be the difference between winning a medal or going home, I just think that margin for air has shrunk for the most part. And so if that is the case, I just don't think this is the time to be leaning on that necessarily. No. And one thing I guess, too, that we did see that was good was when Canada went down, we started to see some of those Harley-theodore shifts. I'd like to see more of that. I'd like to see some Morrissey Theodore with Doughty Harley and then. then and then Pareko, you know, still perfect for penalty killing shifts and defensive zone starts and defensive scenarios, right? So I think there's all sorts of functionality on that back end. We haven't got to see them healthy. Like, there's the same group of eight, and we've never really seen them healthy,

right, across two tournaments now. So we don't even know what plan A looks like for Cooper and his staff in terms of poking holes at it. Like, again, I'd like to see them be disciplined about not self-matching Pereco with the McDavid line. There's a variety of different sort of holes we can poke at it, but also at no point have they just had access to all their players. We don't know what Plan A even looks like. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, another sort of point or exhibit B or C or however far we're into this list, that Suzuki play that we've talked about where he misses the net or misses the open net and hits the post instead. It was probably Mitch Marner's best shift this game, I guess aside from the game winner, but just in terms of like the totality of

the work where there's a scrum below the goal line and Marner fishes it out and brings it out front and passes it to a wide open player and that player is Golden Braco who chooses to fire a slap shot into the pads of the goalie and then there's a rebound in Marner collects it and spins it around and gets it to Suzuki but like you're going to have those spots regardless of what line you play with especially if you're tacking down low then going low to high and I want it to ideally wind up on the stick of someone more capable because that guy probably will be the one who's open and required to make a play and also. So once you're facing a team like the United States,

as we've been recording, the United States won in overtime. Yes. And so. You felt immensely conflicted by the winner. What do you mean? I feel like. Because you're rooting for Quinn Hughes. I'm rooting to see Canada and the United States play each other because I need it.

Yeah. As a fan of hockey, I need to see. Like, that's the highest level hockey I'll have a chance to see for four years. I want to see it. Yeah, I was saying this. But I'm also terrified of this American team, and I can't stomach the idea of Canada not winning gold. So I am conflicted. I think it would be the highest level hockey, as we saw in the four nations final.

And I want it. I think we deserve that as hockey fans. It's like every year in March Madness where everyone cheers for the Cinderella teams and upsets, and then you get into the later stages of the tournament. You're like, I wish the best teams were still playing so that I could see all the coolest players and not like. 100%. But I'm conflicted by my rational self-interest as a Canadian and my rational self-interest as like a, a big fan of hockey.

Like I know that it's best for hockey and for my curiosity about the game that we see these two heavyweights clash. But if Canada could duck the United States entirely because they lost in the quarter final and overtime to Sweden, that would have been like, I would have been like, oh no.

I mean, listen, no one currently listening to the show is doubting your credentials as a big fan of hockey. You publicly admitted to thinking about David Kemp while you're going to bed. and the first player you shouted out on Monday's show was a depth Danish defenseman. So I don't think you have to stake your claim there. I think we get it.

Six shot by Quinn Hughes, though. And anyway, the, so what happens, I think, when you face a team like the United States, that's just completely impenetrable, completely oppressive, takes away space and time, like nothing else. We'll see this season in the NHL, like we'll see, Multiple seasons. Like this is a pretty unique team, I think, in terms of the speed on the back end, the combo of speed and skill on the back end, and then just the overwhelming combination of speed and size up front.

Completely oppressive. But, you know, they can be got to. Like, you can beat them. Skill hockey can ultimately negate that type of play. The problem is, is what's going to happen is you're going to have that key moment because you're white knuckling it. and you have to be so precise and so perfect in every play you make, that oftentimes it's like, okay, let's take what they'll give us, take what they'll give us, and then all of a sudden it's Colton Pereko from the Bowman line.

Now, he's actually a pretty good shooter. It's not Brooks Orpick, but, you know, maybe the right play in that moment is the past. Yeah, there's no threat of the back door shop pad. We always, we see this every year. Like some team ads, Joel Edmondson, their fans insist that it'll make a difference. and then in overtime of game six when they have a chance to advance, the best scoring chance they get before they lose game six and ultimately game seven is some scoring chance where Joel Edmondson puts it high.

And it's like, yeah, you need to have the ability to attack as a team, especially when you're playing what looks to my eyes to be the best defensive team I've seen since Canada in Sochi. Poor Joel Edminson tuning into this program today. Looking forward to a fun breakdown of Canada check. He's like, man, second or third shot I've taken today. You know what I mean. And missed the net on.

All right, buddy. Well, this is a lot of fun. So, yeah, as we, you know, one of the ramifications of Team USA closing out in overtime against Sweden as we were recording here is that we now know that it's going to be Canada, Finland, in the semis, and then USA versus Slovakia, and so it should be a lot of fun.

I do think it'll be very interesting to see, especially with the benefit of having a day off and not having to play a back-to-back the way the lower seeds did today. what Finland does in terms of revisiting the game tape from this Czechia match and then trying to incorporate some of that stuff and maybe on an even higher level with some of the personnel they have because the state of that blue line in particular,

I think does open up more options where you're going to certainly have Mira Heiskin out there for half the game and I just think it's going to add another threat level on top of all the neutral zone defensive work and some of the grinding stuff that we've come to expect from Finland. So it should be a really fun matchup. Yeah, no, I'm really excited. And you'll know right off the bat if Finland comes out in that one four.

Like you'll know immediately like, oh, okay, they watch some of that check tape. So you'll be able to buckle up for what's to come. All right, buddy. What do you want to promote it? Check out all of the Olympic coverage at the Athletic. All my colleagues absolutely killing it. I'm contributing a bit behind the scenes. And then check out Canucks talk.

We've got basically like Olympic post games on Friday. So on Friday we'll have the Olympic post game. We'll have you on. so that'll be fun listen to Canucks talk, especially on Friday with Dimitri. That's 6.50 a.m. in Vancouver between noon and 2 p.m. or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, buddy, and you and I will be back on Friday for said semifinal matchup, breaking down Canada, Finland.

And then how early are we hanging out on Sunday, brother? It's like 5 a. It depends. We might need to get the dogs together, work out some of the nerves and excitement with a little walk in the forest. No question. And then grab some coffees and buckle in for what should be a great. at like 5 a.m. Oh, boy.

You know what? That's nothing for you. That constitutes sleeping in for me at this point. I've been at the studio since 2 a.m. today for the past week. So, all right, looking forward to that. You and I will be back Friday. Gives a five-star review wherever you listen. Subscribe to the P.O. Guest Patreon.

I'm doing some game breakdowns and recaps in written form there. And then a lot of the scoring chance numbers we were citing throughout these Olympics are available there as well. Thank you for listening to the Hockeypedioteo guest streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network.