PRAGUE, 8 May 2004 — Slovakia kept their unbeaten record intact with a 3-1 win over Switzerland on Thursday to set up a semifinal date with Canada at the world championship. Earlier Canada booked their place in the semis with Dany Heatley’s goal midway through overtime in a 5-4 win over Finland.
The Atlanta Thrashers winger stepped over the blue line and launched a blistering slapshot that went over Finnish goalie Mika Noronen’s shoulder and into the top corner of the net.
It was the second consecutive year Canada had been forced into an overtime game in the quarterfinals after beating Germany 3-2 in 2003 on the way to the title. Finland took an early 2-0 lead on first period goals by Ville Peltonen and Tomi Kallio. Kallio’s goal at 7:48 of the first period prompted Canadian coach Mike Babcock to take a timeout to try to regroup his team.
Heatley scored during a two-man advantage and then Florida Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester fired a long wrist shot that Noronen misplayed during another power play.
The Finns once again edged ahead when Antti-Jussi Niemi scored with three minutes left in the second period. Two minutes later Eric Brewer’s slapshot ricocheted off Janne Niinimaa’s leg to pull Canada even, only for Kimmo Rintanen to give Finland the lead at 1:55 of the third period when Canada’s Glen Murray crashed into goalie Robert Luongo, pushing the puck, and Luongo over the goal line. Canada once again regrouped and went on the attack. Five minutes later, Steve Staios’s slapshot from the blue line found its way through a maze of players and into the top corner of the net to level the score.
The Finns appeared to tire in the 10-minute overtime period where the teams play four-on-four. Canada kept up the pressure and just missed several good chances before Heatley’s blast settled the game.
Vancouver Names Nonis as General Manager
Meanwhile, Less than a week after sacking general manager Brian Burke, the Vancouver Canucks decided to fill the position from within the organization. The team on Thursday promoted David Nonis from the position of director of hockey operations to general manager.
Nonis takes over a team that has advanced past the first round of the playoffs just once in Burke’s six seasons as GM. The Canucks won the Northwest Division title, but could not overcome the loss of suspended power forward Todd Bertuzzi in the playoffs, losing in seven games to the sixth-seeded Calgary Flames in the Western Conference quarterfinals.
A Vancouver native, Nonis served as senior vice president and director of hockey operations for six seasons. He worked closely with Burke in contract negotiations, signing defenseman Ed Jovanovski and captain Trevor Linden.
