Today In NHL History - Hasek Stops Canada

On February 20th in 1998, Dominik Hasek shutout Canada in a semifinal shootout to carry the Czechs to the gold medal game in Nagano.

Tied 1-1 at the end of regulation with goals from Jiri Slegr and Trevor Linden, the teams engaged in an Olympic ten minute overtime and ultimately a shootout to settle the score. Of the Canadian shooters (Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque, Joe Nieuwendyk, Eric Lindros, Brendan Shanahan) none beat Hasek. Of the Czechs selected (Robert Reichel, Martin Rucinsky, Pavel Patera, Jaromir Jagr) only Reichel beat Roy.

In light of the loss, Coach Marc Crawford was widely criticized for selecting Bourque to shoot instead of proven scorers Wayne Gretzky or Steve Yzerman. He defended his choice claiming Bourque's accuracy outweighed Gretzky's apparent mediocre breakaway success.

That's today in NHL history.