The Czech Republic vaulted into the final with a thrilling 2-1 shootout victory over Canada. Czech netminder Dominik Hasek stopped all five shots while Robert Reichel's goal on Patrick Roy proved to be the difference. Hasek continued his dominance by shutting out Russia 1-0 in the gold-medal game, finishing the tournament with a sparkling 0.97 goal-against average. Petr Svoboda scored the gold-medal goal with 11:52 left in regulation time. This was the Czech Republic's first Olympic gold ever.