Giles, Juneau Help Canada Beat Czechs

By HELENE ELLIOTT

Feb. 15, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MERIBEL, France —

He blocked three shots while his team was short two men, moving his body in front of the puck without a thought. And once in a while, defenseman Curt Giles let goaltender Sean Burke stop a few too.

“You just have to fall down sometimes in the right spot,” Giles said, shrugging.

Giles’ defense helped the Canadian Olympic team to a 5-1 victory over Czechoslovakia at the Olympic Arena on Friday.

Center Joe Juneau, who said he has rejected six contract offers from the Boston Bruins, scored twice and assisted on Dave Archibald’s power-play goal at 10:12 of the second period, sliding the puck through the slot for an easy shot at goalie Petr Briza.

“I’m playing here strictly for the gold,” Juneau said after Canada (4-0) took the Group B lead by two points over Czechoslovakia and the Unified Team.

The 5-foot-8 Giles is a veteran of 12 NHL seasons who was deemed expendable by the Minnesota North Stars. “I told him tonight he blocked more shots than I did,” said Burke, who stopped 33. “He did a great job. He was unbelievable during the five-on-three.”

Canada will play the Unified Team on Sunday.

Olympics

Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

Giles, Juneau Help Canada Beat Czechs

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