GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of -- Team Canada's feel-good opening run at the Pyeongchang Olympics hit a road bump Saturday in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Czech Republic.
It was a more physical and intense game than Canada's opening 5-1 win over Switzerland with the Czechs' aggressive on the forecheck and skilful with the puck.
The loss was the Canadian men's first at the Games since Vancouver 2010 when they lost 5-3 to the U.S. in preliminary-round play. They had won 11 straight -- and two gold medals --since.
Canada coach Willie Desjardins had asked for more consistency from his non-NHL team and said he felt he got it. But the Canadians had periods where they seemed at sea in their own end and had trouble moving the puck out at other times.
While Canada scored early for the second game in a row, the Czechs pushed back hard and tied it by the seven-minute mark. After going down 2-1 at 13:30 of the first, the Czechs scored 25 seconds into the second period and it was a cagey, even contest the rest of the way.
"The first 10 minutes I thought they had a little bit of an advantage but from that point on I thought we played hard," said Desjardins. "Lots of parts of our game were good.
"Now we just move ahead. This one's gone, we don't worry about it at all. We just move ahead to the next one."
Canada will take on South Korea, a fledgling program that features a half-dozen Canadians, on Saturday while the Czechs face Switzerland.
A Czech win in regulation will give them top spot in the group and a direct route to Wednesday's quarterfinals no matter what Canada does. The Canadians would have to hope to be the best second-place team to join them there or else play a qualification playoff game Tuesday.
Goalie Pavel Francouz, one of 14 KHL players on the Czech roster, was the shootout star Saturday.
Wojtek Wolski scored for Canada while Maxim Lapierre, Derek Roy, Rene Bourque and Maxim Noreau missed. Noreau actually beat Francouz with Canada's final shot but the puck bounced off the post.
Petr Koukal and Jan Kouvar were successful for the Czechs against Ben Scrivens.
"A penalty shot is 50-50," said Czech forward Roman Cervenka. "We were more lucky today."
"It's a tough way to lose," said Canadian forward Linden Vey.
It marked the fifth Olympic shootout for Canada, whose record dropped to 2-3. Wolski joins Eric Lindros, Sidney Crosby, Paul Kariya, Petr Nedved, Wally Schreiber and Jason Woolley in potting an Olympic shootout goal for Canada.
It was the Czechs' first Olympic triumph over Canada since 1998 in Nagano -- a 2-1 shootout win in the semifinal when coach Marc Crawford famously decided to leave Wayne Gretzky on the bench for the shootout.
The teams tied at the 2002 Olympics and Canada won in 1994 and 2006.
The OT period was good entertainment with scoring chances at both ends. Roy made some nifty rushes but couldn't finish it off. And defenceman Mat Robinson broke up a two-on-one before coming close at the other end. The overtime ended with the Czechs pressing.
Mason Raymond and Bourque scored on the power play for Canada in the first period. Canada now has four goals with the man advantage at the tournament.
Dominik Kubalik and Michal Jordan scored in regulation for the Czechs, who edged South Korea 2-1 in their opener.
Canada outshot the Czechs 33-20 through overtime.
"We played hard," said Desjardins. "The time you worry is when you don't play hard. Like if you give everything you've got, then what happens happens and you move onto the next game and you look for some adjustments and you come back ready."
The Gangneung Hockey Centre, the bigger of the two Olympic rinks, was almost full with plenty of Canadian supporters including the women's hockey team. Big rushes -- and an exploding stick -- drew oohs from the crowd during the game.
A third-period wave was taken up enthusiastically by the fans.
For the second game in a row, Canada scored on its first shot. The Canadians showed good puck movement on the power play with Vey spotting fellow former Vancouver Canuck Raymond for a slick tip-in in front of goal at 1:13.
The Czechs pulled even at 6:52 after Chris Lee failed to clear a bouncing puck. Kubalik was Johnny-on-the-spot, burying the puck off Scrivens' arm on the short side from in-close.
Canada continued to wobble in the first period, harried by the Czechs in their own end. But another power-play goal settled the nerves.
Roy opened up the Czech defence with a nifty rush. He went down but the puck went to Noreau at the point and his shot found its way to Bourque who, finding a seam between two defenders in front, put it away at 13:30.
Scrivens, who had mishandled the puck seconds earlier, stopped a Michal Birner shot early in the second but Jordan banged in the rebound.
"We had one (goal against) with a couple chances to clear it and a sharp-angle shot that I probably want to have (back)," said Scrivens, who looked like Darth Vader in his black pads and black uniform. "Another one where they break in, throw it in the middle and hope for bounces, and they get one."
The Canadians upped their physical game in the second period, flooring several Czechs. The Czechs did not help their cause late in the period when Canada defenceman Chris Lee ended up in their bench, prompting an interference call.
"They just kind of rode me in and the door opened and two guys kind of wedged me in there," said the 37-year-old Lee, who saw the chance to draw a penalty. "I didn't exactly fight my hardest to get out of the way."
Forward Andrew Ebbett limped off midway through the third period, favouring his leg after being sandwiched by a pair of Czechs near centre ice. He said he was fine afterwards.
Canada had won the last five meetings with the Czech Republic and eight of the last 10. Its record against the Czechs in Olympic and world championship play fell to 13-14-1.
Goaltender Justin Peters, defenceman Karl Stollery and forward Quinton Howden did not dress for Canada with defenceman Stefan Elliott and forward Brandon Kozun drawing in.
