sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

It was a victory, if an unconvincing one, for Team sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ in its final men's hockey preliminary-round game.

The Canadians defeated a scrappy South Korean squad 4-0 in its round-robin finale. sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ finished second in its group, behind the Czech Republic, but advanced directly into the quarterfinals as the best second-place team.

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ had a hard time disposing of host South Korea, looking ordinary for large parts of its victory over the hockey minnow.

Third-period goals by Maxim Lapierre and Gilbert Brule helped make the score look more flattering for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, which struggled for two periods to assert its superiority.

While sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ emerged victorious, a game Korean side and its loyal fans had a night to remember. They hung tough with a Canadian squad that, while not NHLers, plays in far better leagues than the so-called Asia League Ice Hockey circuit that is home to all the Koreans.

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ has 20 Olympic men's hockey medals (13 gold, five silver and two bronze). Korea — bolstered by seven North American imports — was playing its third-ever Olympic game and four years ago didn't own a skate-sharpener or glove-dryer.

Christian Thomas and Eric O'Dell also scored for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, which fired 40-plus shots at Canadian-born goalkeeper Matt Dalton.