Advertisement

For Team Europe, in Halak they trust

Jaroslav Halak of Team Europe stretches between plays against Team Canada (Getty Images)
Jaroslav Halak of Team Europe stretches between plays against Team Canada (Getty Images)

TORONTO – He’s faced 111 shots and only let six pucks fly by him in three games, including contests against the NHL stars of Canada and the United States. Now, as the backbone of the ragtag World Cup of Hockey squad collectively known as Team Europe, goalie Jaroslav Halak is expecting to face a few dozen more against Sweden.

Only a little earlier than he’s used to.

[Sign up to play Yahoo Fantasy Hockey for free | Mock Draft | Latest news]

Sweden and Team Europe faceoff in a single-elimination semifinal, with the winner advancing to the best-of-three World Cup final against either Canada or Russia. Their game on Sunday is at 1 p.m. ET, the earliest start for any game of the two-week tournament.

“It’ll be weird,” said Halak, a goalie for the New York Islanders. “I’ll try to go to bed the same time. It just changes that we gotta wake up, eat some breakfast and then go to the game. You’re actually playing for something. You don’t have the luxury of going back to bed after practice.”

What Team Europe is playing for a chance to do what few of its players have the opportunity to do in international competition: Play for a championship.

“These are nations that are forever underdogs, forever going home, forever watching other teams play in the finals of best on best tournaments. That’s fueled their fire,” said coach Ralph Krueger.

While he hasn’t played for a championship, Halak’s been in this position before. Slovakia was in the semifinals of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, losing to Canada and then to Finland in the bronze medal consolation game. Halak was instrumental in them getting there, thanks to a brilliant 36-save performance in a preliminary round shootout win over Russia and his effort in their quarterfinal win – out-dueling Henrik Lundqvist and beating Team Sweden.

Slovakian hockey has changed a bit since then. Rather than having their own team in the World Cup, players like Halak, Zdeno Chara and Marian Hossa were thrown in with other “orphaned” national team players on Team Europe. “I would say if it was 10 years ago it would be upsetting because 10 years ago we had a lot of guys in the NHL. Right now, we got maybe 12. So that would be tough to make a team out of 12 guys,” Halak said before the tournament. “But it’s nice to play with some other players from different countries.’’

A the World Cup of Hockey, Halak reintroduced himself to Sweden in the last game of the exhibition schedule, making 34 saves in a 6-2 Team Europe victory in Washington, DC that saw Lundqvist chased.

“He’s a great goalie who has been playing really well,” said Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman.

Halak has made a career out of playing the underdog and thriving. Like in Vancouver for Slovakia, and like in 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he shocked the hockey world by leading the No. 8 seed Montreal Canadiens to a seven-game upset over the Washington Capitals after going down 3-1 in their opening round series.

He’s leading an underdog again with Team Europe. “We’ve been underdogs pretty much the whole tournament. We proved to people we can play hockey,” he said.

His teammates know that in the face of more long odds, Halak gives them an opening to beat anyone.

“He’s the kind of goalie that almost every night, he gives you a chance to win and he’ll make that save when you need it,” said Frans Nielsen, who played with Halak with the New York Islanders.

“He’ll give you a chance.”


Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS