PRAGUE (CP) - Wayne Gretzky was on the phone to Kevin Lowe seconds after Dany Heatley's 50-foot slapshot whizzed by Mika Noronen's right ear and into the net Thursday.
"Gretz said to me: `He's a hockey player,"' said Lowe, part of Gretzky's World Cup of hockey management team.
Heatley's second goal of the game 5:33 into overtime not only lifted Canada to a 5-4 quarter-final victory over Finland at the world men's hockey championship, but it cemented his place on Gretzky's World Cup team this summer.
Take that to the bank.
"This kid has a chance to be unbelievable," said Canadian head coach Mike Babcock. "He has a chance to influence little kids for a long time if he wants to be a star, if he'll embrace it."
Team Canada will face Slovakia in Saturday's semifinals (TSN, 10:15 a.m. EDT) after the Slovaks dumped Switzerland 3-1 in the other quarter-final Thursday. Sweden takes on the U.S. in the other semifinal.
The Canadians nearly didn't reach the final weekend.
Heatley capped off a gritty Canadian comeback before 15,615 pro-Finnish fans at Sazka Arena. The defending champions were down three times in the game before Steve Staios tied it 6:02 into the third period.
Then Heatley took over, carrying the puck from his own zone and rifling a blistering shot from just inside the blue-line that beat Noronen high to the stick side.
"It's a big goal, I can't think of any bigger I've had, so I'm pretty excited right now," said the Atlanta Thrashers forward.
The 23-year-old Calgary native is a man of few words, especially when it comes to talking about himself.
That's OK, his teammates couldn't stop marvelling at his winning goal.
"He was one-on-three, he thought he was going to dump it in and change," said Canadian goaltender Roberto Luongo. "The next thing you know he's taking a shot with a guy on his back and puts it top shelf.
"Obviously he's got a lot of skill, not everybody can do that."
It was easily the highlight of Heatley's tumultuous season.
On Sept. 29 in Atlanta, the Ferrari he was driving slammed into a wall with teammate Dan Snyder in the passenger seat. Heatley broke his jaw, injured a shoulder and tore ligaments in his knee. Snyder died six days later from massive brain injuries without ever regaining consciousness.
Police estimated that Heatley was driving about 130 kilometres an hour - far above the speed limit - but prosecutors haven't decided whether to file charges. Snyder's family, who have been supportive of Heatley, have asked them not to proceed with charges.
"It's great to see Dany Heatley score that goal, with everything he's been through this past year, it's a great feeling for the kid," said Canadian captain Ryan Smyth.
Heatley missed the first 51 games of the season recovering from the knee injury and has slowly climbed back to the form that saw him named the top forward in this tournament last year when he led Canada to gold in Helsinki.
Now he's doing it again. His two goals Thursday gave him a tournament-best seven.
"It's just amazing," said linemate Daniel Briere. "To overcome what happened this year and to be as dominant again in this tournament this year, it just speaks for itself."
Eric Brewer and Jay Bouwmeester also scored for Canada, who can also thank Luongo and his 37 saves for its trip to the final four.
He's another player possibly bound for the World Cup.
"He's helped his chances at this championship," said Lowe, Gretzky's right-hand man on the World Cup team.
Kimmo Rintanen, Ville Peltonen, Tommy Kallio and Antti-Jussi Niemi scored for Finland, who were ultimately undone by shaky goaltending from Noronen.
"My heart's broken for Mika," said Briere, Noronen's teammate in Buffalo. "I'm just sad for him. He's a great goaltender and a good friend of mine."
The Finns had leads of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 but couldn't put away the Canadians.
"It's a devastating loss," said defenceman Janne Niinimaa of the New York Islanders, fighting back tears. "We had the lead three times. We just couldn't carry the momentum. We let up just a little and that let them back in the game."
Finland came out with more jump and was up 2-0 before the game was eight minutes old, leading Babcock to call a timeout.
The Canadians headed to the dressing room outshot 12-7 and outscored 8-2 over their last four periods of hockey, including Monday's drubbing to the Czechs.
"What was good about our comeback was that our locker-room was calm and composed," said Staios, playing in his third consecutive world championship. "And I think that's a good sign at any time, but especially in a short tournament like that."
Canada was a different team in the second period, forcing the Finns not only to commit turnovers but ultimately penalties.
In overtime, Canada outshot the Finns 7-2 before Heatley finally ended it.
"We just never quit," said Heatley. "I think there's a lot of confidence in the room that if we play our game, we can win."