NAGANO 25: Broken Gretzky or How Canada’s golden dream collapsed: Czechs? Something disgusting!

When the selection of the cradle of hockey arrived in Nagano and the selected players entered the press center, even the police had to intervene. The rush and the number of journalists were so great that the police were worried about the health of the hockey players. Especially in the case of Gretzky, who became the most popular player from the NHL, even among Japanese fans, which for the first time in history interrupted the season for two weeks due to the five-ring tournament.

“I had no idea how popular Canadian hockey was in Japan,” smiled Gretzky, who at the age of 37 was enjoying his first Olympics at the end of his career. “We brought the strongest Canadian team I’ve ever played for,” said the owner of ten Ross Trophy and nine Hart Trophies.

Canada’s roster really commanded a lot of respect. General manager Bobby Clarke assembled a team that stood on Patrick Roy in goal, Ray Bourque managed the defense, and stars such as Gretzky, captain Eric Lindros, Brendan Shanahan, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joe Sakic or Steve Yzerman were in the attack.

Forwards Paul Kariya, who was prevented from returning to the land of his ancestors by a serious head injury, or six-time Stanley Cup winner Mark Messier, who was surprisingly given priority instead of Rob Zamuner, remained at home.

“Anything but gold would be a huge disappointment. Our team is the best of all, that’s why we should win,” Lindros proudly announced that Canada’s 46-year long wait for an Olympic triumph simply had to end.

Coach Marc Crawford’s wards flew through the basic group without losing a point. A must-win 5–0 win over Belarus followed a day later on Saturday 14 February; to the day exactly 25 years ago; a 3-2 victory over the Swedes in the first really sharp test. And finally, a sweet 4:1 triumph over the USA, with which the Canadians took revenge for a year and a half old painful defeat in the World Cup final.

The reward for first place in the group was an easy opponent for the quarterfinals. The favorites beat Kazakhstan 4:1, but they lost the injured Sakik for the rest of the tournament. Nevertheless, they had no doubt that they would manage the semi-final against the Czech Republic even without him…

They didn’t make it. Already in the regular part, they were close to defeat due to the famous goalkeeper Dominik Hašek, but at 58:57, Linden equalized at 1:1 and sent the battle for the final to overtime.

“We should have played on the football field because that’s what the game looked like. From the moment the Czechs took the lead, they didn’t even enter our zone. It wasn’t hockey. It was disgusting, like skating through Velcro,” said Canadian forward Theoren Fleury after 19 years.

“We dominated in extra time, we won maybe 6-0 on the chances, but Hašek was literally standing on his head,” coach Crawford shook his head and thought that the Czechs relied on raids, which they were not as afraid of as his team. After all, raids in the NHL they did not know a tie until then, they were introduced only seven years later.

A single goal by Reichl from the first series was enough for the Czechs, as Crawford’s chosen five of Fleury, Bourque, Nieuwendyk, Lindros and Shanahan failed to beat Hašek. For many months and years afterwards, the Canadian coach in his homeland was being grilled by hockey experts about why he didn’t point to his biggest star for raids.

“It was a bad decision to leave out Gretzky and put Ray (Bourque) in there,” GM Clarke shook his head.

“I will never get rid of this curse. One day they will write on my grave: Here lies the coach who didn’t send Wayne Gretzky to raid in Nagano,” admitted Crawford even after 20 years in the documentary Nagano Tapes (Tapes from Nagano), which mapped the 1998 Tournament of the Century.

And so Gretzky just sat on the bench with his head bowed. “Words can’t even describe how I feel. The gold medal was probably not meant for me,” he said a few minutes after the match, holding back tears.

“It’s overwhelming. We haven’t lost a single game, but we still can’t make it to the finals,” said the giant, who collected four assists in Nagano.

It was clear that the duel for bronze with the Finns two days later is practically meaningless for the entire Canadian team.

Also that he fell 2:3 in it and instead of the desired gold, the biggest favorite returned home without a medal. “We weren’t thinking about that match at all,” admitted Lindros.

All this because of the Czechs…