Luongo saves homeside blushes against Slovakia

Local boy Roberto Luongo drew the cheers of home fans as he kept a surging Slovakia attack at bay as Canada squeaked to a 3-2 win to set up a dream ice hockey clash with the USA.

Brenden Morrow and Patrick Marleau scored first period goals for heavily-favoured Canada who will face the USA on Sunday in a rematch of the 2002 gold medal game in Salt Lake.

But the home side lived by its nerves in the closing moments as Slovakia laid siege to the Canada goal after clawing their way back from 3-0 down in the final period.

"It was close," Canadian star Sidney Crosby said. "We expected them to be desperate. They didn't have many chances but they made the most of them. We found a way to win."

Most people imagined a Canada-Russia final in Vancouver and not Canada against fifth-ranked USA, who beat them 5-3 in the preliminary round.

"The two teams know each other so there won't be any secrets," Crosby said of the USA. "The first one was really emotion and this one should be more intense."

Luongo made 19 saves and Chris Pronger added two assists for Canada who have a tournament-leading 32 goals thanks in part to their 7-3 blowout of top seeded Russia in the quarter-finals.

Luongo, who has a home in Vancouver and plays for the NHL Canucks, had to make a number of game-saving stops in the final seconds with the score 3-2.

He was serenaded with chants of "Loouuuuuuu" each time he touched the puck or made a save.

Morrow and Marleau's goals came just 1:47 apart in the first period for the winners while Ryan Getzlaf also scored for Canada

Lubomir Visnovsky and Michal Handzus scored in the third period for Slovakia who posted their best ever result at an Olympics and will now get a chance for a bronze on Saturday when they take on Finland.

Forward Marleau opened the scoring for Canada at 13:30 of the first by tipping a shot from defenceman Shea Weber past Slovak goalie Jaroslav Halak in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,799 at Canada Hockey Place arena.

Morrow scored on a similar play at 15:17 as he outbattled Slovak defenceman Visnovsky in front and deflected a Chris Pronger shot from the point in. The play went to review to see if Morrow's stick was above the legal limit but the goal stood.

Getzlaf scored on a backhand from his knees on the power play in the second to give Canada a 3-0 lead. Getzlaf's goal came with Slovak forward Richard Zednik serving a two minute penalty for holding the stick.

Visnovsky got the Slovak's third period rally started by squeezing a shot between Luongo's left pad and the post to cut the lead to two goals. Handzus batted a shot out of the air with just under five minutes left in the game to make it 3-2.

"I can't believe he (Luongo) made that save, somehow I hit his glove," said Miroslav Satan.

This marked the second meeting in Olympic hockey between Canada and Slovakia, who won the first game 3-1 in the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.

Slovakia was coming off an emotionally-charged upset of defending gold medal champion Sweden in the quarter-finals.

Their road to the semis also included a win over Russia in the preliminary round.