Finland’s Jussi Jokinen (top R) scores a goal past goaltender Ondrej Pavelec and Jan Kolar (C bottom) of the Czech Republic during their Ice Hockey World Championship quarter-final game at the O2 arena in Prague on Thursday.

AFP/Prague


In-form NHL veteran Jaromir Jagr and a crazy home crowd will be key obstacles to Canada’s dreams of gold as they face the Czech Republic in the ice hockey world championship semi-finals today.
Canada, eyeing their first title since 2007 and their first medal since 2009, have won all eight games at the tournament so far, beating the Czechs 6-3 in the group stage along the way.
The team packed with stars, including Sidney Crosby, Tyler Seguin and Claude Giroux, have scored 58 goals and conceded 14, sweeping past Belarus 9-0 in the quarter-finals.
“We’ve gotten better every day, we’ve grown as a team, we’ve come together,” said Seguin, the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals.
“We’ll try again to continue doing that,” added the Dallas Stars centre.
The Czechs, who have won six world titles in the past 20 years, rely largely on Jagr, a 43-year-old Florida Panthers wing, who scored twice on Thursday to lead his team past Finland in the quarter-finals.
Another factor is Prague’s O2 Arena packed with more than 17,000 frantic fans.
“The atmosphere is there, but it also means huge pressure,” said Jagr.
“The fans tend to see us as better than we really are, they think we are a much better team than Canada.”
Jagr, the fourth player on the NHL’s all-time points list who led the Czechs to their last title in 2010, said Canada had an excellent team, but called them “playable”.
“They are players like us. We have to go for it, respect them but give them nothing for free,” he said.
“You can’t go twelve rounds boxing with them, you have to try to knock them out in the first.”
“If they play their best hockey, there’s a negligible chance, but anything’s playable.”
Canada and the Czech Republic are due to face off at 1315 GMT on Saturday.
In the other semi-final, the United States will face defending champions Russia at 1715 GMT on Saturday.
In the group stage, the US team packed with young talent stunned Russia 4-2, but the semi-final might be a different story.
Russia’s mighty offence has so far largely relied on the SKA Saint Petersburg line of Vadim Shipachyov, Evgeni Dadonov and Artemi Panarin, and on Pittsburgh star Evgeni Malkin, who scored twice on Thursday as Russia saw off Sweden 5-3 in the quarter-final.
Its potential is likely to grow with the arrival of Washington star Alexander Ovechkin, who left for Prague after the Capitals had lost to the New York Rangers in the NHL playoffs, and who never misses an opportunity to play for his country.
Bronze medallists in 2013, the US have brought a young team, with two-thirds formed by NHL players and the rest by those plying trade in minor leagues, at universities or in Europe.
Only eight players on the team, which beat Switzerland 3-1 in the quarter-finals, were born before 1990.
New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson is the top US scorer at the tournament with six goals.
The final is scheduled for tomorrow.