Turin – Italy was blistered by 50 Canadian shots in its opener, but Thursday the men’s hockey team went to Hell.
Gunther Hell.
And it fit that he has the double hockey sticks in his last name. The Italian backup goalie faced 51 shots.
Team Italy tumbled to its expected nook at the bottom of the Olympic heap, losing 6-0 to Finland. The Italians are tied with Germany and Kazakhstan – zero wins in two games.
Italy is stacked with club-level players, including Bob Nardella, 38, a third-generation Italian-American who qualified by spending three years in Italy’s professional league. Nardella played college hockey at Ferris (Mich.) State.
Italy’s coach, Canadian import Mickey Goulet, has watched his team use their sticks instead of their skates to keep up with quicker opponents. And those tugs have drawn a rash of penalties, leaving his squad short-handed.
“You can’t just play 4-on-5 against a great team,” Goulet said. “That’s about it.”
No Forsberg, no fight
Without Peter Forsberg in the lineup again Thursday, Sweden crumbled under the speed of a Russian hockey team that is talking of a return to old-time Soviet hockey.
Forsberg, recovering from a groin injury, still hopes to help Sweden meet its medal expectations.
On Thursday, though, Russia’s Alexei Kovalev scored once in a 5-0 pasting of the Swedes.
“We want to come back to old hockey, the way the national team used to play,” Kovalev said. “We’re coming back, slowly, but we’re coming to Russian hockey, which is controlling the puck and moving the puck around.”
Standing on their heads
Avalanche goaltenders have been tearing up Turin.
Kazakhstan’s Vitaly Kole- snik, who plays in the Avs’ minor-league system, stopped 32 shots in a 4-1 loss to Team USA.
Earlier Thursday, David Aebischer batted away a furious, second-period assault and led Switzerland to a 3-2 upset over the Czech Republic. He had 40 saves on 42 shots.
His teammates racked up 14 penalty minutes in the second period alone. That allowed Jaromir Jagr, Milan Hejduk and Pavel Kubina to circle and fire. But during the 21-shot Czech barrage, Aebischer allowed only one goal, by Jagr.
“Everyone should enjoy this moment for a couple of hours,” Aebischer said. “With a performance like this, we will do fine in the tournament.”
The Swiss win came a day after Aebischer’s Colorado teammate Peter Budaj turned away 20 shots in Slovakia’s 5-3 manhandling of Russia.
