When Canada and Czechia opened group play at the Olympics last Thursday, Canada flexed their muscle in a 5-0 win. There is no doubting who the favorite is to capture the Gold Medal on Sunday morning. Anything can happen, but it's going to take a perfect performance from a team to knock them off.
Six days after opening group play, Czechia will get another shot at them. On Tuesday, Czechia collected a 3-2 qualification-round win over Denmark to advance to the quarterfinals. The task is a big one with all of Canada's firepower, and they'll have to do it on a back-to-back. Czechia forward Martin Necas of the Colorado Avalanche joked about losing the first game against Canada after advancing over Denmark on Tuesday.
“We let them win the first one because we knew we wouldn’t win two in a row against Canada,” joked Necas.
Necas and the rest of his teammates know what they are up against, including Boston Bruins superstar David Pastrnak.
Bruins star David Pastrnak says the quiet part out loud about facing Canada in the Olympic quarterfinals
Pastrnak will face off against former teammate and captain Brad Marchand when Czechia plays Canada, with the winner advancing to the semifinals on Friday. After beating Denmark, Pastrnak said what just about everybody knows about Wednesday's opponent.
“This might be the best team ever,” Pastrnak said. “So maybe let’s put the respect aside a little bit and try to take their game to them. Offensively, their power is incredible. And you know, just have to be a little stronger on pucks, play more in the O-zone, and be more confident.
“We have nothing to lose. So we’re going to leave it all out there. As a team, we haven’t played our best yet, so hopefully we will save it for tomorrow.”
The amount of talent the Canadian coach Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning can put on the ice is crazy. Their power play units are loaded with potential Hall of Famers. Pastrnak isn't breaking any news about Canada's lineup, and Czechia does have nothing to lose playing them.