Kopecky's Goal Puts Three Griffins Alumni In Olympic Semifinals
February 25, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - With the advancement of Finland and Slovakia to the semifinals of the men's hockey tournament at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, three former members of the Grand Rapids Griffins will have the opportunity to play for a medal.
Finland's Valtteri Filppula and Slovakia's Pavol Demitra and Tomas Kopecky all scored goals in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday to help their countries advance. Filppula's empty-netter capped off Finland's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic, while Demitra and Kopecky played key roles in Slovakia's 4-3 triumph over defending champion Sweden, lifting Slovakia to its first-ever Olympic semifinal berth. Kopecky scored what proved to be the game-winner in the third period, while Demitra tallied a power play goal and two assists.
DemitraKopecky400.jpg The United States and Finland will meet in the semifinals at 3 p.m. Friday, followed by Canada versus Slovakia at 9:30 p.m. The Bronze Medal Game will be held Saturday at 10 p.m., while the Gold Medal Game is set for Sunday at 3:15 p.m. (All times EST.)
The trio are attempting to join Sweden's Niklas Kronwall, who won gold at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, as the only Griffins alumni to earn Olympic medals.
Filppula400.jpg Both active Griffins who participated in the Vancouver Games - defensemen Sergei Kolosov of Belarus and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen of Norway - are expected to join the team in Rochester later today and be in the lineup on Friday when the Griffins visit the Americans at 7:05 p.m.
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