2010 Olympics: Morrow and Canada are golden

Sunday, February 28, 2010-10:44:pm
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Stars captain Brenden Morrow is now an Olympic gold medalist. Morrow and Team Canada won gold Sunday afternoon, topping Team USA 3-2 on Sidney Crosby's goal 7:40 into overtime.

"We just needed one shot. It didn't matter whether it was pretty or ugly," Morrow told The Dallas Morning News. "We just needed one shot to go in."

And it was Crosby who provided the shot, moving into Canadian hockey lore along with Paul Henderson, who scored the winning goal for Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union.

"This is a dream come true," said Crosby. "I've always dreamed of playing for Team Canada and obviously winning the gold medal. A lot closer than we would have expected but an unbelievable feeling."

Crosby's gold medal winner came after Jarome Iginla won a puck battle in the corner and chipped the puck to Crosby, who beat Team USA goalie Ryan Miller from the left circle.

"He was yelling for it and I hoped that I wasn’t too late," said Iginla. "When he scored I saw everyone cheering and I could not believe it. I didn’t see where he put it I just saw everyone jumping around. It was awesome."

"That's Sid for you," said Team Canada forward Ryan Getzlaf. "There's a reason he's the best player in the world. He always shows up in those big moments and scores those big goals."

The USA overcame a 2-0 deficit to force the overtime, getting the game-tying goal with 24.4 seconds remaining in regulation when Zach Parise banged the puck by Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo during a scramble in front of the net.

But Team USA, which wasn't considered among the favorites for a gold medal heading into the Olympics, fell short in the overtime.

"Not what we wanted, but I think we gained a lot of respect," Miller, who was named the tournament MVP, told NBC after the game. "Our guys came here as an afterthought to a lot of people. I think we built a new trend with USA Hockey."

Said Team USA captain Jamie Langenbrunner: "The sting of this loss is going to be there for a while. I appreciate what we did do and the fact that our team showed unbelievable character. We brought grit and heart and battle all tournament."

Jonathan Toews put Canada up 1-0 at 12:50 of the first period and Corey Perry made it a 2-0 game 7:13 into the second. The USA finally got on the board at 12:44 of the second when Ryan Kesler deflected a Patrick Kane shot past Luongo to make it a 2-1 game.

Morrow played 16:30 in the game for Canada, his highest of the tournament. He had no points, no shots and a minus-one rating.  He finished the tournament with two goals, one assist and a plus-three rating in seven games played.

Tournament awards

Best Players
Category Player Country
Most Valuable Player Ryan Miller USA
Outstanding goalie Ryan Miller USA
Outstanding defenseman Brian Rafalski USA
Outstanding Forward Jonathan Toews Canada
Media All-Stars
Position Player Country
Goaltender Ryan Miller USA
Defenseman Shea Weber Canada
Defenseman Brian Rafalski USA
Forward Jonathan Toews Canada
Forward Zach Parise USA
Forward Pavol Demitra Slovakia

Dallas Stars updates

Brenden Morrow, LW (Canada)
2/28: Had no points, no shots and a minus-one rating in Canada's 3-2 overtime win over Team USA in the gold medal game. Played 16:30, his highest total of the tournament. Again played with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and saw time on both the power play and penalty kill. Ended the tournament with two goals, one assist and a plus-three rating in seven games.

2/26: Had one goal, two shots and even rating in 11:39 of playing time in Canada's 3-2 semifinals win over Slovakia. Played on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

2/24: Had one goal, four shots and a plus-one rating in 11:29 of playing time in Canada's 7-3 win over Russia in the quarterfinals. Played on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Saw some power play time in the game.

2/23: Picked up one assist, one shot on goal and a plus-two rating in Canada's 8-2 win over Germany in the qualification round. Played 12:49 and saw some time on the penalty kill. Started on a line with Mike Richards and Jonathan Toews and ended the game on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

2/22: Practiced on a line with Jonathan Toews and Mike Richards as Canada prepared for Tuesday's game against Germany. 

2/21: Had no points and a plus-one rating in 11:22 of playing time. Started on a line with Jarome Iginla and Jonathan Toews. Saw some penalty killing time. 

2/18: Had no points, no shots and two penalty minutes in 5:52 of playing time. Saw his time on the fourth line, playing with Jonathan Toews and Mike Richards. Also saw some time with Jarome Iginla and Mike Richards.

2/16: Morrow played 7:50 in Canada's 8-0 win over Norway. He had no points, no shots and was even. Had a couple of good hits. He played some on a line with Jonathan Toews and Jarome Iginla and some on a line with Toews and Mike Richards. He saw some special teams time in the game.

Morrow Game Log:
Date Opponent/Result TOI G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
2/26 USA, W 3-2 (OT) 16:30 0 0 0 -1 0 0
2/26 SVK, W 3-2 11:39 1 0 1 0 0 2
2/24 RUS, W 7-3 11:29 1 0 1 +1 0 4
2/23 GER, W 8-2 12:49 0 1 1 +2 0 1
2/21 USA, L 5-3 11:22 0 0 0 +1 0 1
2/18 SUI, W 3-2 (SO) 5:52 0 0 0 0 2 0
2/16 NOR, W 8-0 7:50 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 7 games played 11:04 (avg) 2 1 3 +3 2 8
Jere Lehtinen, LW/RW (Finland)
2:27: Lehtinen had no points, one shot and an even rating in 15:50 of playing time. He was on his usual line with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne. He also saw power play and penalty killing time. He had a key block on a Marian Hossa shot in the third period with Finland protecting a 4-3 lead. 

2/26: Had no points, three shots and an even rating in Finland's 6-1 semifinals loss to Team USA. Played on a line with Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu.

2/24: Had no points, one shot on goal and an even rating in Finland's 2-0 win over Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. Played on his usual line with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne.

2/21: Had no points, two shots on goal and a minus-one rating in Finland's 3-0 loss to Sweden. Played 13:04 and saw some penalty killing time. Played on a line with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne and was a key penalty killer for the Finns.

2/19:  Had no points and two shots on goal in Finland's 5-0 win over Germany. Again played on a line with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne and was a key penalty killer.

2/17: Had no points, an even rating and four shots on goal in Finland's 5-1 win over Belarus. Played left wing on a line with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne. Was one of Finland's key penalty killing forwards in the game.

2/16:  Did not play. Finland opens tournament play Wednesday against Belarus. Has been practicing at left wing on Finland's third line with center Saku Koivu and right wing Teemu Selanne.

Lehtinen Game Log:
Date Opponent/Result TOI G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
2/27 SVK W 5-3 15:50 0 0 0 0 0 1
2/26 USA, L 6-1 14:58 0 0 0 0 0 3
2/24 CZE, W 2-0 13:53 0 0 0 0 0 1
2/21 SWE, L 3-0 13:04 0 0 0 -1 0 2
2/19 GER, W 5-0 14:05 0 0 0 0 0 2
2/17 BLR, W 5-1 12:52 0 0 0 0 0 4
Totals 6 games played 14:07 (avg) 0 0 0 -1 0 13
Loui Eriksson,  RW/LW (Sweden)
2/24: Had one assist, one shot and a plus-one rating in Sweden's 4-3 loss to Slovakia in the quarterfinals. Played on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Daniel Alfredsson. Also played at times on a line with Samuel Pahlsson and Johan Franzen. Saw some power play time as well. Ended the tournament with three goals, one assist and a plus-two rating in four games.

2/21: Scored two power play goals in Sweden's 3-0 win over Finland. He had three shots on goal and was even. He played 16:18 and played on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Daniel Alfredsson. Was tied for third in tournament goal scoring at the end of preliminary play.

2/19: Had no points, no shots in goal and an even rating in 15:20 of playing time in Sweden's 4-2 win over Belarus. Again played on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Daniel Alfredsson

2/17: He had one goal, a plus-one rating and two shots on goal in  Sweden's 2-0 win over Germany. Played on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Daniel Alfredsson. Played 14:14 and saw some brief power play time.

2/16:  Did not play. Sweden opens tournament play Wednesday against Germany. Based on Tuesday's practice reports on Team Sweden, it appears Eriksson could open the tournament playing left wing on a line with center Nicklas Backstrom and right wing Daniel Alfredsson.

Eriksson Game Log:
Date Opponent/Result TOI G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
2/24 SVK, L 4-3 17:25 0 1 1 +1 0 1
2/21 FIN, W 3-0 16:18 2 0 2 0 0 3
2/19 BLR, W 4-2 15:20 0 0 0 0 0 0
2/17 GER, W 2-0 14:14 1 0 1 +1 0 2
Totals 4 games played 15:49 (avg) 3 1 4 +2 0 6
Karlis Skrastins, D (Latvia)
2/23: Had no points, no shots and an even rating in Latvia's 3-2 overtime loss to Czech Republic in the qualification round. Skrastins played 22:26 and saw both power play and penalty kill time for Latvia, which is finished at the tournament. Skrastins average ice time of 21:12 during the tournament led Latvia.

2/20: Had no points, no shots and a minus-3 rating in Latvia's 6-0 loss to Slovakia. He played a game-high 22:11, seeing time on both the power play and penalty kill for the Latvians.

2/19: Had no points, one shot and an even rating while playing 20:17 in Latvia's 5-2 loss to Czech Republic. Saw time on both the power play and penalty kill for Latvia.

2/16:  Skrastins had no points and was even while playing a game-high 19:57 in Latvia's 8-2 loss to Russia. He saw time on both the power play and the penalty kill for the Latvians.

Skrastins Game Log:
Date Opponent/Result TOI G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
2/23 CZE, L 3-2 (OT) 22:26 0 0 0 0 0 0
2/20 SVK, L 6-0 22:11 0 0 0 -3 0 0
2/19 CZE, L 5-2 20:17 0 0 0 0 0 1
2/16 RUS, L 8-2 19:57 0 0 0 0 0 1
Totals 4 games played 21:12 (avg) 0 0 0 -3 0 2