FRISCO — While about 70% of the Dallas Stars were back in Frisco on Wednesday for their first practice since the Olympic break, you didn’t have to look further than the TVs in the four corners of their locker room to see where the rest of the team was.
A brief practice ended, and as players entered the locker room, all eyes were glued to the screen for the final 10 minutes of the men’s hockey Olympic quarterfinals game between Canada and Czechia in Milan, Italy.
The conversations between media and players were brief so as not to interrupt them from watching what was one of the best games of the tournament.
Just over 12 minutes into the third period, the locker room — filled mostly with non-Canadians at the time — burst with excitement when Ondrej Palat scored a go-ahead goal to put Czechia up 3-2 over the favorites to win the tournament.
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A big smile came over Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel’s face as Czechia, which is only a few countries away from his native Switzerland, took a late lead.
Then, the Canadians started to file in.
Mavrik Bourque from Quebec (and a notably passionate supporter of his home country) and Wyatt Johnston of Toronto looked nervous as an upset seemingly brewed.
Matt Duchene, also an Ontario native, offered his two cents on the tournament’s flaws.
“That’s the problem with these short tournaments,” he said. “It’s one game.”
But none of the Canadians thought the game was over. Moments later, Nick Suzuki scored the late, game-tying goal. Bourque clenched his fists as he shouted, “Let’s go!”
Duchene said, “It’s over,” rather confident in his countrymen’s chances in overtime.
He went on to say he felt the Canadians would win gold if they completed the comeback.
American Adam Erne of Connecticut said, “You sure they’re gonna get by the U.S.?”
Duchene was pretty sure.
The locker room closed before overtime began, so we didn’t get to witness the players’ reaction to Mitch Marner’s back-handed game-winner, as he took on three Czech players at once.
But a minute after the game concluded, Stars coach Glen Gulutzan of Saskatchewan took the podium.
“Mitchy Marner, eh?” he said in truly Canadian fashion.
Marner may have taken on the entire Czech defense in his game-winner, but Gulutzan’s own defenseman Thomas Harley helped make the goal happen with the secondary assist, his fourth point of the tournament.
“It looks very comfortable. I thought he’s been really good. He’s looked very solid. Big body, moves, made some great plays,” Gulutzan said of Harley. “He’s out there 3-on-3, so that tells you what kind of tournament he’s having.”
Gulutzan said he’s thoroughly enjoyed watching the tournament, especially his players. He watched Harley and Radek Faksa get into a small scrum in the first meeting between Czechia and Canada last week.
“I was laughing,” Gulutzan said. “I wanted to know what was said because I saw there was something said to each other. I’ll have to ask them. Maybe they want to finish it out here.”
But he’s also held his breath at times, as Faksa has missed the last two games with an injury. Gulutzan said he hadn’t yet received an update on his status but expects to soon given Czechia’s elimination.
He’s also watched star defenseman Miro Heiskanen play nearly 30 minutes a night for Finland.
“That’s what he plays here,” Gulutzan said. “The key with him and [Harley] is just making sure they get those rests in between. They can handle those minutes.”
Hours later, the Stars’ Finnish teammates completed a 3-2 overtime comeback of their own over Switzerland. Heiskanen scored the game-tying goal with 72 seconds left in regulation. Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen and Esa Lindell all assisted on either the game-tying or game-winning goal.
If only we could’ve seen the locker room’s reaction to that finish.
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