Canada's shootout loss conjures bad memories of Nagano 1998

The Canadian men's Olympic hockey team lost in a shootout to the Czech Republic on Saturday in PyeongChang after Canada's final shooter, Maxim Noreau, failed to score.

The result likely had many Canadians flashing back to one of the nation's most painful hockey losses.

It came at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano when Dominik Hasek stonewalled the Canadians in a shootout to prevent them from reaching the gold-medal game.

The image of an utterly devastated Wayne Gretzky, playing in his first and only Olympics, sitting on the bench after not being called upon by head coach Marc Crawford is etched in the collective memory of millions of Canadian hockey fans.

The parallels between the two games, which occurred nearly 20 years apart to the day, are either fascinating or eerie depending on how you feel about hockey superstition.

The Nagano loss came in the first Olympic hockey tournament to feature NHL stars; the PyeongChang defeat comes in the first Winter Games post-NHL involvement.

In both instances, a Canadian shooter hit the post - Bob Cole's anguished scream of "no!" as Eric Lindros clanked it off the iron in Nagano is as haunting today as it was then.

The difference, of course, is the timing. In Nagano, the shootout loss cost the team the chance to play for Canada's first gold medal in hockey in nearly 50 years. A fully demoralized Canada went home empty-handed after losing the bronze-medal game.

For the latest Canada team, the loss merely means they may face an extra game in the qualification round on Tuesday rather than advancing directly to the quarter-finals.