Czechs write their own script, beat Russia for gold

I busted out a comparison the other day for this year's Czech Republic squad that I'm happy to pat myself on the back for coming up with it. I referred to the team as being like the Bad News Bears and much to the pleasure of the Czech team and their fans, their fate in the gold medal game was different than that of the Bad News Bears in the title game of the movie. The Czechs wrote their own script in the finals, even getting some help from time and a fortunate glancing blow off Tomas Rolinek's skate blade.

Much like the other games the Czechs played in the elimination round of this tournament, the game would be tightly defended, low-scoring, and count on someone coming up big somehow. Only difference this time was that it didn't have to be Jan Marek and Tomas Vokoun in a post-overtime shootout. This time it was still Vokoun leading the charge as he made 35 saves and you could argue that Vokoun is used to backstopping teams that are a bit deficient in talent since he's a Florida Panthers goalie in the NHL. The difference between the Panthers and the Czechs, of course, is that the Czechs played great as a team and rallied better than just about anyone throughout this whole tournament. That special brand of resiliency was something I cited during this tournament and even went so far as to say something crazy like this:

"The Czechs were close to being relegated as well as missing the quarterfinals but manned up in a big way in their final games in both rounds of the tournament. If they can treat every game the rest of the way like that, they could end up winning the whole thing."

Looks like the Czechs plan of attack was exactly that, considering both their quarterfinal and semifinal victories came in the shootout and today's game was essentially decided in the second period when a Karel Rachunek centering pass went off Tomas Rolinek's skate and past Semyon Varlamov for the eventual game-winning-goal. Sure, Pavel Datsyuk would score with 36 seconds left to play to make it interesting, but the Czechs and their defense and goaltending locked down this game.

As for Russia, we're sure this is disappointing, but on the upside, they're the new IIHF #1 team regardless of the loss. What will surely raise some eyebrows for fans, however, is a closer look at the box score of this game. Both Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin managed to have a -2 rating for the game. They were the only Russians to end up with a -2 and considering the final score was 2-1, I can't imagine that folks who are eager to find ways to put down one of the greatest players in the game will be zeroing in on this at all.

While the main focus of the Czech Republic from a standpoint of folks here in North America was to focus on people we know from the NHL and Jaromir Jagr was the focus of that, how much can you say about the captains work done by Tomas Rolinek? He ended up leading the team in goals scored with four, three of which came in shorthanded situations and the fourth one was the medal-clincher today. His line with the Blue Jackets Jakub Voracek and shootout king Jan Marek provided some good opportunities for a team that didn't really score a lot. While Jagr's line with Jakub Klepis drew the most attention, it was characters like Rolinek and Marek that provided balance. Jagr took the media heat for this team, but it was Rolinek doing yeoman work on the ice and presumably in the locker room for this team. The kind of team-wide effort seen by these Czechs in the face of a talented behemoth like Russia is the kind of thing that myths can spawn from.