from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

For two-plus periods, Canada pressed and pushed and otherwise ran up an impressive shot total against a Latvia goaltender you’ve probably never heard of - Kristers Gudlevskis - and managed to get just the one goal past him.

It was 1-1 with time winding down in the third period and they were maybe starting to believe in miracles in Riga.

Alas for the plucky Latvians, it didn’t happen.

Shea Weber’s power-play goal with about seven minutes to go in the third gave Canada a heart-stopping, gut-checking 2-1 win and a berth in the semi-finals against the United States.

Canada is trying to win its first Olympic championship outside of North America in 62 years and the 11th seeded Latvians, who’d lost their first three games in the men’s Olympic hockey tournament, seemed like an unlikely stumbling block. But they hung on with relentlessly determined defence, often having five forwards within arm’s length of Gudlevskis and closing off shooting lanes left, right and centre.

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