By Jack Sullivan
OSLO, (CP.) -- Canada last night won the 1952 Olympic hockey championship -- the only gold-medal victory for Canada in the winter games with a 3-3 tie final game with the United States.
The tie was enough to keep Canada on top of the nine-country standing but it broke a seven-game winning streak the Canadians had nourished from the start of the round-robin series.
The tying goal came scarcely two minutes from the end of the game when the United States tossed in desperate power plays. The draw gave the United States second place. A loss would have dropped that country to fourth.
Final standing in the round-robin Olympic hockey championship series won by Canada.
| |
W |
L |
T |
F |
A |
Pts |
| Canada |
7 |
0 |
1 |
71 |
14 |
18 |
| United States |
6 |
1 |
1 |
48 |
21 |
18 |
| Czechoslovakia |
6 |
2 |
0 |
47 |
18 |
12 |
| Sweden |
6 |
2 |
0 |
48 |
18 |
12 |
| Switzerland |
4 |
4 |
0 |
40 |
40 |
8 |
| Finland |
2 |
6 |
0 |
21 |
60 |
4 |
| X-Poland |
1 |
8 |
1 |
17 |
[?] |
[?] |
| Germany |
1 |
6 |
1 |
21 |
[?] |
[?] |
| X-Norway |
0 |
7 |
0 |
12 |
42 |
0 |
| (X-Norway and Poland to play their final-round game Monday). |
The United States overcame a two-goal lead Billy Dawe and Louis Secco gave Canada in the opening period. The Americans snapped back with goals by Johnny Mulhern of Boston and Ruben Bjorkman of Roseau, Minn., in the second period.
But with only 90 seconds of the second period left, Don Gauf put the Canadians ahead again. Despite the gambling chances the Americans look in the final period it looked as if the Canadians would win their eighth straight.
The Tying Goal
Jimmy Sedin of St. Paul, Minn., poked in the tying goal. Standing near the goalmouth, Sedin took a pass from Jerry Kilmartim of Providence. R. I, and rapped the puck past goalie Ralph Hansch.
Last night's victory was Canada's fifth since the Olympic hockey championships were started back in 1924. The only time any other country had taken honors was in 1936 when Great Britain's team, which had a Canadian tinge, was the winner.
In other games last night Czechoslovakia shutout Sweden 4-0 and Switzerland defeated Germany 6-3. The game between Norway and Poland, scheduled for a smaller rink, was postponed because of soft ice and will be played today.
Czechoslovakia's victory over Sweden gave the Czechs third place in the standing by a whisker, the Swedes ending fourth.
The United States had one loss in the series -- a 4-2 setback at the hands of Sweden -- and in the final standing had 13 points for six wins and a tie compared with Canada's 15 points.
A Wide Edge
On last night's play the Canadians -- the Mercurys from Edmonton -- had a wide edge over the Americans, and also some tough luck. They fired 58 shots at goal Dick Desmond, compared with only 13 that Hansch had to kick out.
Coach Lou Holmes of the Mercurys said he was satisfied with the outcome and called it "a very good game."
"The United States has a good club, the toughest we've met," said Holmes. "We figured from the start they were the team to beat in this tournament."
When one or two of the Canadians started to beef mildly in the dressing room, others shouted: "We're satisfied. We won the championship, didn't we?"
John Pleban, the United States coach, said that it was "a good game and our boys never gave up."
After the game the Canadians lined up to accept the championship trophy from Dr. Fritz Kraatz of Switzerland, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation.
There were 10,000 fans jammed into the Jordal Stadium. They looked for a real roughhouse slam-bang affair between the two teams that were dubbed "rowdies."
But the rowdies weren't taking many chances last night of getting penalties. They played it cleanly, although there was some stiff body-checking at times.
CANADA -- goal. Hansch; defence, Davies, Gauf, Purvis. Pollock; forwards, Dawe, Watt, Abel, Dickson, Miller, Sullivan, Secco, Gibson, Robertson.
UNITED STATES -- goal, Demond; defence, Van, Czarnota, Noah, Sedlin; forwards, Rompre, Kilmartin, Yackel, Ceglarski, Bjorkman, Gambucci. Harrison, Oss, Muthern.
Referees -- Ahiin of Sweden and Tencza of Czechoslovakia.
Summary
First period: 1 -- Canada, Dawe (Gibson) 18:49; 2 -- Canada, Secco (Abel) 19:05. Penalties -- none.
Second period: 3 -- United States, Mulhern (Kilmartin) 13:03; 4 -- United States, Bjorkman 14:41; 5 -- Canada, Gauf 18:30. Penalties -- Abel 7:56, Noah 7:56, Yackel 14:42.
Third period: 6 -- United States, Sedlin (Kilmartin) 17:62. Penalties -- none.
