Canada's Mitch Marner said his overtime goal in Wednesday's Olympic quarter-final against Czechia was the biggest of his career.Marton Monus/Reuters
Just over a minute into overtime against Czechia, as Mitch Marner picked up a drop pass from Macklin Celebrini at Team Canada’s blueline, he wasn’t necessarily thinking of scoring.
As he sped through the neutral zone and all three Czech players seemed to converge around him, he definitely wasn’t thinking of a goal at that point, either.
Marner had Celebrini, a goal-scoring prodigy at these Olympics, over on his right side near the boards. That was the play, he thought. The Czechs were thinking the same.
As Marner crossed the opposing blueline one-on-three against the Czechs, defenceman Radim Simek glanced sideways, saw the wide-open Celebrini, and took a step toward him.
In that moment, Marner went from being in an improbable spot to generate offence – surrounded by three defenders − to being seconds away from the biggest goal of his life.
Canada survives quarter-final scare from Czechia with overtime win
The sudden hesitation from Simek caused a seam to open.
Now there was daylight between Marner and the net. As he sped up, accelerating through the chasm, Simek changed course, leaned back in Marner’s direction and quickly tried to close the space between him and the Canadian winger.
Too late. Marner was through.
“Just tried to see what my options were when I got over the blueline,” Marner said afterward, describing the winner in three-on-three overtime that kept Canada’s gold medal hopes alive by ousting Czechia 4-3 in the quarter-final.
Marner felt the adrenalin surge after his game-winner. The goal came as a relief to millions of Canadians with gold medal hopes for the men's hockey team.AMBER SEARLS/Reuters
“I saw Mack kind of on my right side, was looking to make a play to him ... then just kind of saw a hole and a gap.”
Andrej Kase and David Kampf both couldn’t catch him. They were one-time teammates of Marner when he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and would have known about his slipperiness.
Simek, scrambling to recover, had the best chance of anyone.
As Marner neared the net, arms outstretched and trying desperately to control the puck on his backhand, Simek lunged toward him. Even then, Marner still wasn’t thinking goal.
“Just tried to get it back on my stick quickly and make a quick move and go far side,” Marner said.
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His backhand shot went up over Czech goalie Lukas Dostal’s shoulder and just inside where the crossbar meets the goalpost. It was the kind of shot that might sail wide if a player was trying to pick that spot. But this one didn’t miss.
In that moment, the mostly Canadian crowd inside Milan’s Santagiulia Ice hockey Arena erupted in a mixture exaltation and relief. But mostly relief.
On the bench, head coach Jon Cooper laughed and shook his head like he’d just seen a card trick.
Marner called it the biggest goal of his life. Hard to say it isn’t, he said. “It’s a special one.”
Czechia goaltender Lukas Dostal and defencemen Michal Kempny and Radko Gudas watched the replay of Marner's goal in disbelief.AMBER SEARLS/Reuters
Brad Marchand called the play unbelievable. “So silky and poised with the puck, he can make something out of nothing,” Marchand said.
Cooper joked that Marner can be a stressful player to have on the ice sometimes, because he tries things others might not, but the risk is worth the reward.
“There’s just never a doubt in my mind about throwing that kid over the boards, because he doesn’t disappoint,” Cooper said.
“Sometimes your hair falls out at times, but in the end, he never disappoints.”
Goaltender Jordan Binnington, from the other end of the rink, figured he might have had the best view of anyone of the gap Marner shot through.
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“Seeing from my angle, just watching him decide to cut through and take that ice, get in there and rip that backhander,” Binnington said. “It was pretty special.”
Perhaps the only player unaware of how it all went down was defenceman Devon Toews. His view from the bench was suddenly blocked when the rest of Team Canada stood up as Marner closed in on the net.
“I still haven’t seen it,” Toews said afterward. “The guys are telling me it was quite a sick shot.”
But wait, didn’t he see it on the jumbotron? No, Toews said, the scoreboard at Santagiulia is too high.
Marner was mobbed by his teammates and celebrated by the large Canadian contingent in the arena in Milan on Wednesday. Canada will face Finland in the Olympic semi-final on Friday.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
“The jumbotron’s like, on the moon up there, so it’s hard to see it.”
Still, Toews wasn’t the only one there in person who won’t recall seeing the goal live.
Marner said the moment was particularly special because his son, born last year, was in the building for it.
“He’s pretty young, he probably won’t remember. He was probably sleeping on Mom,” Marner said.
“But it’ll be something cool to look back at one day with him, and just kind of show him where he was and what he was doing in this kind of moment.”