Preliminary Round
April 25, 2004 | Prague, CZE

By Alan Adams
PRAGUE – Mike Babcock says the message Austria sent Canada came through loud and clear.

"We have some work to do and we know that," Babcock said after Canada had to rally with a pair of goals for a 2-2 tie with Austria at the World Hockey Championship on Sunday.

"The one thing is our guys got the message tonight. Everybody has a chance. Everyone at the international stage can beat you and everybody is prepared to play Canada so we had better have our A Game."

The Austrians definitely played their A game and they were thrilled with the outcome, despite the fact they were within minutes of the biggest upset in that country’s hockey history.

Canada is the defending world champion and Austria is ranked 12th according to the IIHF’s world rankings. This was one of those David vs.. Goliath battles and the little guy was claiming a moral victory.

"This is huge in Austria," said Thomas Vanek, who was the fifth overall pick by the Buffalo Sabres last June. "The game was on live on national television back home."

Another reason why Vanek was so enthused was that Austria hosts the world tournament next year and the 2-2 tie sends a message to kids in a country noted for producing world class skiers more than anything else.

"It is good for kids back home and kids growing up," said Vanek. "It gives them hope that we are getting better and we can play with the big teams."
The Canadians came out flying and smothered the Austrians in the first few minutes but had nothing to show for their effort but hard work. The Austrian plan was simple.

"We just kept icing the pick and icing the puck to get them off their game," said goalie Reinhard Divis of the St. Louis Blues. "Then we got our game together."

The Canadians were not looking for excuses and you know they will get better.
Six players joined Team Canada in the Czech capital over the weekend and the team can now settle into a routine.

Scott Niedermayer, for example, stepped off the plane Sunday morning, joined the team at the arena where he was handed his A for alternate captain and played a regular shift plus the power play.

Andre Lakos put Austria on the scoreboard at 15:39 of the first period when his wrist shot deflected off defenceman Willie Mitchell and over Roberto Luongo's catching glove.

Vanek doubled Austria's lead to 2-0 midway through the second, his wrist shot from the high slot beating a screened Luongo to the top left corner.
Team Canada captian Ryan Smyth said there was never a sense of panic on the bench when the Austrians went ahead by a pair.

"We made sure we were calm and collected to gather our thoughts and we did not panic," he said. "We battled hard at the end and we had some opportunities to go ahead."

Canada finally solved the Austrians in the third.
Matt Cooke of the Vancouver Canucks beat Divis with a slap shot while Canada played shorthanded at 10:36 of the third period. Then Dany Heatley deftly slid a rebound from beside the net under Divis at 15:17.

In Sunday’s other games, Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators stepped off the plane and had a goal and two assists in Sweden’s 5-1 win over Japan. Alexei Yashin of the New York Islanders had a goal 6-2 win over Denmark and Switzerland beat France 6-0.

France plays Canada on Wednesday and goalie Cristobal Huet of the Los Angeles Kings has an idea what to expect.
"We don’t have a chance and we know it," he said.