Team Canada World Hockey Championships 2008 - Is This Team For Real?

About halfway through the game vs. Norway I thought to myself; 'this team is going nowhere.' Then they scored 6 straight goals.

I'm used to a range of inconsistency in the World Hockey Championships, the nature of the tournament (short) and the players (young) makes for a perfect cocktail of inconsistency. But Canada should never be in a tight game with Norway, let alone two.

In the 2006 World Championships Team Canada went unbeaten in the round robin and qualifying rounds and then disposed of Slovakia 4-1 in the quarter finals. In the semifinal Canada played Sweden.

Now, the very recent history of these two teams in the World Championships has been generally favourable to Team Canada. There were a couple of very good Swedish teams that Canada faced in the finals, Swedish teams that were more than expected to win it all, facing Canadian teams featuring half of the Oilers roster including Cory Cross, Anson Carter, Mike Comrie, Sean Horcoff and of course, Steve Staios and Ryan Smyth. The Canadian squad came out on top two years in a row, 2003 and 2004, the first time with a disputed OT goal by Anson Carter, the second time in a come from behind effort featuring a then mostly unknown goaltender playing for Sweden named Henrik Lundqvist.

That game in the 2006 World Championships semis did not go well for Canada. It was 2-0 Sweden before Canada even blinked, and then 5-2 just a couple minute into the second period. Canada scored one with less than a minute left in the second and scored early in the 3rd, Canada got very close several times but it was too much of a deficit to overcome. They played the bronze medal game the next day and had nothing left emotionally or physically having spent it all trying to overcome the Swedish onslaught. As is usual with Canada, it's Gold medal game or nothing, and they lost 0-5 to the Finns in the bronze medal game.

This team has better depth and better high end talent than that 2006 edition of Team Canada. They literally have three lines that can light it up at any time and a 4th line that just looks plain mean out there most of the time. They have a defensive group who worst performer (according to ice time) has probably been Jay Bouwmeester. In net that year Canada had Alex Auld and Marc Denis - this year they have former Conn Smythe (and WC Gold) winner Cam Ward and top NHL shutout man Pascal Leclaire. This team also gets to play on small ice.

Look, this is a good hockey team. 30 NHL GMs would love to have this roster - but anything can happen in a single game. No disrespect to Sweden, but this team could even lose to a roster whose top line consists of Niklas Backstrom, Tony Martensson and Patric Hornqvist. Especially if that Swedish roster employs one Henrik Lundqvist.

2 MURRAY Douglas D- 0-0-0 +2 - 13:41
5 FERNHOLM Daniel D - 0-3-3 +2 - 14:53
7 WALLIN Niclas D -1-1-2 +2 - 15:50
36 STRALMAN Anton D - 2-3-5 - 16:19
24 FROGREN Jonas D - 0-3-3 +8 - 17:57
29 JONSSON Kenny D - 2-4-6 +3 - 19:23
23 EDLER Alexander D - 1-2-3 +4 19:36
6 JOHANSSON Magnus D - 1-2-3 +2 22:53

I would imagine that Johansson and Edler get the undesirable task of shutting down Heatley Getzlaf and Nash, although it's not entirely obvious what the pairings are. As can be seen, this defensive group is actually pretty even top to bottom in terms of point and plus minus distribution. This is both a sign of a good defensive group and a team that's been successful, especially in terms of even strength. Their team is a combined +72, which although pales in respect to Canada's +114, it at least shows that Sweden is winning the even strength battle by about 2 goals per game.

Murray, Wallin and Stralman are their top penalty takers so look for Canada to try and exploit both Murray and Stralman with the Heatley Getzlaf Nash line. It's my opinion that Canada has been playing Burns and Aucoin with the top line, so expect Staios and Hamhuis to be up against the Backstrom/Martenson/Hornqvist line. I might be jinxing the poor guy by saying this, but Staios has yet to be on for an ES goal against.

It's hard to say how Team Canada coaches reacted to Ward's game vs. Norway. I didn't feel he had much of a chance on either goal, but it sounds like Pascal Leclaire will be starting tomorrow. Is this part of a general plan or reaction to Ward's game? Only Hitchcock and the rest of the Team Canada staff knows.

Some intangibles:
Now that Sweden is the underdog and Canada is the favorite, how will Canada react? Can the Swedes take advantage of a Canadian team that knows they're expected to win?

What is the deal with Marcus Nilson? He has 4 goals, 2 assists and is +4 playing only about 3 minutes more a game than with the Flames.

The Tre Kroner roster also features Oilers rookie Robert Nilsson. He's getting about the same ice time as Nilson and is 2-3-5 +5.

How will Eric Staal play, and where will he be slotted in? Although the line was broken up halfway through the game, with Derek Roy being slotted in between Doan and Toews, the St. Louis, Spezza, Roy line wasn't half bad. I thought Spezza did a lot of good things, although he still isn't doing enough IMO. For my money he gets put back between Chimera and Mayers.

Does Kunitz get put back with Doan and Toews, or does Roy stay with that tandem. Personally I like Roy with them because it gives that line so much tenacity. I think it'll depend on how Hitchcock wants to line match, or if he wants to line match. Doan Toews and Kunitz become more of a shutdown line together, and more of an offensive line apart. I think Hitch will go the offense route.

How will Canada respond in the third period? If they have a lead, can they hold it?

Canada plays Sweden tomorrow at 2:50 MST. Game on TSN and tsn.ca.

Team Canada 2008 IIHF World Junior Champions

This was easily the least convincing, least spectacular edition of Team Canada gold medal winners over the past 4 years.

But it was also easily the most spectacular finish.

After 60 minutes and some change, Team Canada defeated Team Sweden in one of the most exciting World Junior Championship gold medal games in recent memory, winning 3-2 on the strength of an OT goal by Matt Halischuk.

Team Canada beat Team USA in a convincing fashion, having several key players step up (what about Brandon Sutter nailing James van Reimsdyk, what about Brad Marchand playing a terrific two way game, what about Chris Mason being named player of the game?), and Team Sweden beat Team Russia in OT, paving the way for a rematch between Team Canada and the only remaining undefeated team in the tournament, the Tre Kroner.

After being legitimately questioned as a useful number 1 scoring unit, Brad Marchand, Kyle Turris and Claude Giroux stepped up and had by far their best game, scoring twice in the first, both of them great examples of determination rather than skill.

Goal number one had Marchand pick the puck out of the air after a Kyle Turris shot and bank it off the Swedish goalie Jhonas Enroth. The second goal had Marchand poking the puck out from Enroth as he attempted the smother it, he then spun around behind the net and centered it perfectly to a wide open Claude Giroux on the opposite side of the net who banged it home.

The Swedes though, should be given their due as well, especially as the comeback kids of the tournament. Beginning with their 4-3 comeback victory against Canada last Saturday, then a 2-1 OT comeback victory against the Russians yesterday, and then they managed to tie the game after being behind by a couple goals in the third.

After Kyle Turris dinged one off the post early in the third, Sweden put the pressure on, dominating the game for over 15 minutes straight. From terrific individual plays by Patrik Berglund (an absolute beauty behind the net pass for Sweden's first goal, then an almost a coast to coast), to a constant flow of great passing and individual plays from Robin Figren, Team Sweden did everything possible to tie and nearly win the game. At one point Marchand looked like he was about to go after a Swedish player for a perceived slight, the camera momentarily moved to Craig Hartsburg who clearly mouthed "Marchand! Focus Marchand!!" The last minute goal by Team Sweden looked to be the last nail in the coffin for Canada who were outshot 14-3 in the third period and were completely dizzied by the Swedish attack. I'm not sure there was one Canadian player in position, including goaltender Steve Mason who really overplayed a shot at the side of the net, mimicking Jonathan Bernier's earlier mistake.

Team Canada though would not be denied. When OT started Sweden still held the play but were not nearly as dominant. After a few hesitant shifts in which Canada played a simply dump (with no chase), Canada changed strategy to dump AND chase. Matthias' forecheck caused a turnover in the corner and he drove to the net hard, making contact with Enroth as he came from behind the net. From then on the story was Matt Halischuk driving to the net hard and banging in the rebound. After that it was sheer bedlam.

The celebrations lasted longer than usual with the team charging into the stands and celebrating with the 4000 or so Canadian fans. As the choir of boys sang out the Canadian national anthem, Stefan Legein, who played only one shift in the game due to injury, yelled to the camera 'I told you Canada!!' following up with his statement during the national anthem of the quarterfinal game ("Two more baby!") and after the semifinal game ("One more baby!").

One thing I'll say about this team that is different from the rest of the 4 in a row Team Canada teams is that I never felt any one player stood out for any length of time. Early in the tournament it was the youngsters Jonathan Tavares and Steve Stamkos who played well, Drew Doughty eventually found his stride, and at the end of the tournament I though Marchand, Giroux, Turris, Sutter, and Mason who stepped it up. To give you an idea of individual efforts, not one forward from team Canada was named to the all star team, although Drew Doughty was named along with his underage Swedish counterpart Victor Hedman. Chris Mason was named the top goalie of the tournament.

10 players from this Team Canada edition are eligible to return next year to compete for the gold in Ottawa. The drive for five is only a year away.

Team Canada vs. Team USA Pregame - Rock and A Hard Place

Going into this year's edition of the IIHF World Junior Championships, I think it was hard to point out where Canada's strengths lay. In the summer Super Series, Canada could score, hit, shut down, and it had great goaltending.

Right now it's hard to identify Canada's strengths, but for different reasons. Canada doesn't score that often, they only have two guys playing physically (Stefan Legein, Colton Gillies, Brandon Sutter is clearly injured), they haven't really contained anybody, and the goaltending, well...

I thought Jonathan Bernier played great against the Czech Republic in game one of this tournament; he looked really sharp, swallowed rebounds and looked really confident. I thought he looked sharp against the Swedes too, that is until he allowed that first goal past him (not his fault in any way in my eyes), then he just fell apart. I'm not going to say the next two goals were his fault, because they weren't. But he certainly looked like a different goalie. The fourth, well, that was just plain bad - and he certainly looked shell shocked after it happened.

Steve Mason got his first start against Slovakia, but I was at work and didn't see that game, so I can't legitimately comment besides saying that a shut out is a shut out. Still, from what I saw of Bernier, I felt it would be difficult to outplay him, and so Bernier was given the number 1 position. After that disaster, Steve Mason got his chance - IMO he did not impress. The first goal by the Finns was absolutely brutal, and apparently he's known for giving away a goal like this per game. The second goal was more forgivable, but it wasn't impressive either. And to think Canada actually played better against the Finns than they did against the Swedes makes me very nervous.

Hartsburg and co had the unenviable position of again choosing which of these goalies would start against Team USA, the rematch from last year in which another goalie, Carey Price, solidified his position as a top goaltending prospect. This is the highest pressure game either of them has likely faced, and their predecessor's shadow is about as big as it gets. And neither of them, nor the rest of the team, has played well up to this point. That Mason stands first in SV%, (.951) GAA (1.00), is a bit of an illusion, as he's only faced 58 shots, not many of them high quality - witness the two that went in as at least some evidence.

Canada has already decided to start Mason, and he will be tested tomorrow - Team USA has a very good team including James Van Reimsdyk. He's got 4g, 4a and is (+)4 in 4 games. The next highest scorer is Marek Slovak who has 9pts in 6 games. Team USA also has the 5th (Colin Wilson) and 7th (Jordan Schroeder) scorers on the tournament. Every top scorer in between 7th and 1st is no longer competing in the tournament. Mason's rival from Team USA, Jeremy Smith, has a marginally lower SV% (93.83) and GAA (1.36) and has played a half game more than Mason, also facing 20 more shots. Certainly a statistically comparable performance to Mason thus far.

The fact that Mason let in one questionable goal isn't the end of the world. Hell, great goalies let in bad goals all the time - it's simply that in short tournaments like this, every GA is greatly magnified. Whether it be tournaments like this or playoff series, most of the team that wins is the team whose goalie is playing best and is on a visually obvious hot streak. Witness Justin Pogge or Carey Price in their World Junior performances. Mason is not on a hot streak.

If Team Canada is going to succeed, somebody other than Kyle Turris, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, or Drew Doughty has to make a big impact. Hopefully for Team Canada fans, that man will be Steve Mason.

Team Canada vs. Team Sweden Postgame/ Team Canada vs. Denmark - Pregame

Adversit

I've talked about it in a lot in my Team Canada discussions, specifically I like to talk about how a team will react to it. There are some teams that will just be so dominant they don't really have to think about adversity, especially in short tournaments like the World Juniors, but eventually, whether it's the next year or the next year, a team will face it. I think a lot of times adversity is harder to overcome if a team isn't used to dealing with it. Gretzky touched upon that idea regarding the Soviet teams of the late 70s and early 80s, he said that although they played great with a lead, if you could stay in the game you saw a different and more vulnerable team.

Going into yesterday morning's game against the Swedes, Team Canada hadn't lost in 20 straight games, had a 400 or so minute EV shut out streak and hadn't let in a goal since the gold medal game of last year. They rolled over the Russian stars in the Super Series this summer, and although the Czechs and Slovaks played them tough, neither team managed a goal against. The closest thing to adversity that Canada has faced in approximately 3 years is a scare in the semi finals against Team USA last year, and that had more to do with Canada being asleep than the USA really bringing it.

In my opinion, pretty much everything was going according to plan going into the third period against Sweden. Team Canada was up by a couple goals, had one completely dominating PK effort in which Sweden barely touched the puck and besides the fact the Swedes were getting the odd scoring chance, I never felt the Canadians were letting things slip out of hand. The turning point, beyond a doubt in my mind, came when the PKing Canadians stole the puck from the Swedes on the points, then had a 2-0 chance. Instead of calmly skating it up, the puck was miss-passed and turned into a dump in. The Swedes recovered the puck and scored on an absolute beauty point shot. Instead of a 3-0 affair, the game was now 2-1. For about 5 minutes after that, the Canadians were a complete disaster of a team.

The Swedes next two goals were either extremely flukey or extremely skillful (or a combination of both). Jonathan Bernier made an extremely difficult save on one chance, only to have puck (now behind the net) deflect off his skate as he scrambled back into position. The next goal deflected off a defenceman's skate on a play that was either a unsuccesful centering pass or a genius read. 3-2 Sweden.

Fortune smiled upon Team Canada as the Swedes received a phantom call against, already shorthanded. Canada scored on a beauty play started by John Tavares (whom I believe should be given more ice time) who made a fake spinarama pass to Turris out front who put it past the Swedish goalie, but not all the way in. Ice cold Claude Giroux managed to bang home the puck and the Canadians were seemingly back in the game.

The Swedes however, would not be denied. With less than a minute to go in the third period, and the game looking more and more like an OT or shootout affair, a series of blunders occured , almost all by players who need to be leaders on this team for it to be successful.

1. Brad Marchand gets the puck near the top of the circle in the Swedish zone, instead of getting the puck deep (as he is the high man in the zone), he dangles it towards the blueline and is overwhelmed by two Swedish players.

2. One Swedish players gets on a partial break past Thomas Hickey, however, not by Drew Doughty. Instead of letting Doughty handle it, Hickey continues to persue the Swede. Doughty also continues to persue the Swede, eventually falling (to try cut off the shooting angle?) and therefore pretty much eliminating Hickey's effectiveness. Meantime, the Swede simply skates a little past the two inept Canadian defenceman and centers the puck to a wide open player.

3. Meanwhile, Bernier, forgetting everything he's ever learned about goaltending, completely overplays the Swede being covered by two Canadian defenceman and has no real angle at the net. By the time the centering pass is made, Bernier has completely vacated his net. The puck is easily banged home.

Now there are a lot of questions about what happened in that play, but it was only a microchasm of the whole game and Canada's general reaction to a little bit of adversity. Panic. It was not a pretty sight.

Now there are a couple of positives to be taken from this experience - firstly, it wasn't an elimination game. Team Canada supporters saw a similar reaction to adversity way back in 2004 when a team consisting of a lot of great NHLers saw Team USA snatch victory from the jaws of defeat coming back in the third period after Marc-Andre Fleury banked a goal in off his own teammate.

Secondly, it should be painfully obvious now that Canada is not immortal. They've gone unbeaten for so long that perhaps they had forgotten what it was like to lose, perhaps they had forgotten that sting. That's the sting that motivated Canada to greatness in 2005, and perhaps this team can figure out what it takes now rather than wait till next year.

Today Canada will play Denmark, and they will win. Steve Mason will be starting in goal, and I believe that is a sign he will be our goalie in the elimination portion of this tournament - that misplay by Bernier at a key moment was enough for Hartsburg to believe a change was necessary.

The question now, is who will step and lead this team? In 2005 it was leadership by commitee, in 2006 is was Steve Downie and Justin Pogge who inspired, and in 2006 it was Jonathan Toews and Carey Price that took the team and put it on their shoulders (Marc Staal honourable mention). Will Stephan Legien and Brandon Sutter take this team by the collar and give everyone a shake? Will Steve Mason pull a Manny Legace and win games single-handidly? Will Karl Alzner take control of this group by shutting down the opposition and making a phsyical statement?

Or will Team Canada go out with a whimper when it comes time to face the music in quarterfinals?

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Two games into this tournament and Canada is 2-0, and while there is still a long ways to go, a lot of questions have been answered.

Game one was a clinic by the Swedes on how to play on the big ice surface, using their forecheck and positioning to really difuse the Canadian attack most of the time. I thought that if the Swedes didn't actually outchance the Canadians, it was damn close. The difference was that Canada buried its chances, while the Swedes managed to find a way not to score on every occasion. This game was proof that the Canadians are not going to run over the competition ala the Dream Team in 2005, and that the Swedes are true Medal contenders.

The number one question answered by game 1 was that of goaltending. Carey Price was outstanding all game long, stifling the skilled Swedish attackers, including what Pierre Maguire has dubbed 'the killer b line,' consisting one of the most skilled players in the tournament, Niklas Backstrom. While I did say earlier that the game was close, I never felt (one the Canadians were up 2-0 especially) that it was particularily in doubt. Carey Price was simply playing too well.

Game 2 verse the Americans today was a much more exciting, North American style game, and it was also notable for several bizarre events.

The Good? Canada wins 6-3 on the strength of 2 goals in the last 2 minutes, and Jonathan Toews (pronounced 'Tayvs') emerged as one of the tournament's best. He had several impressive shifts including a dominating cycle shift in the first, a great rebound goal (also in the first) and a breakaway in the third which led to a converted penalty shot goal, killing whatever momentum the Americans were playing.

In addition, Canada faced some adversity with the Americans scoring two quick goals in the second, and coming within one in the third, but played smart hockey and never altered from the gameplan. In addition, the coaching staff has to be commended for keeping cool under the pressure from both the Americans and the poor reffereeing.

Although Skille got the player of the game award for the Americans, I thought Bill Sweat deserved it as he had a goal and rushed the puck into the Canadian zone for an assist on another goal. One of the better American players on the night.

The Bad? The officiating. From the start of the puck there were several bizarre calls and non calls. A slashing call from a poke check, a cross-checking from a push, several phantom slashes, culminating into a Claude Lemieux on Mike Vernon Stanley Cup finals type play, in which and American player blatantly ran Carey Price, which directly led to a goal for the Americans. The officials could have called the play on either the goalie interferece, OR man in the crease without the puck, but blew both calls, cutting Canada's lead in half.

The American's duo of Jack and Eric Johnson were impressive at times, but also got caught several times for goals against. On Toews' third period breakaway Jack Johnson actually threw his stick at Toews to try and stop him. Eric Johnson took a badly timed penalty (can't remember what the actual call was, but the penalty was an elbow) to give the Canadians an extended 5-3 when the Americans only trailed by one in the score.

To be fair though, the duo played fairly well all night, with Eric scoring a goal, and both at times controlling the play in the Canadian end especially.

The Ugly? The poor state of Team USA Hockey's program. The team is year after year living on the edge of mediocrity but they refuse to change their outdated development system or their strange player selection process. Bobby Ryan not on the team?

Bah Humbug!

The most reason Flames road trip went exactly how every other road trip in the past year has gone. Manhandling the basement dwellers and folding against the difficult teams. Of course the Flames still have the potential to even this trip to .500 when they get their make up game against Colorado (whenever that will be), but it really is exasperating watching this group flourish at home and flounder on the road. Like the early part of the season, this team really needs to look within itself and figure out a way to win.

The Oilers are following their southern neighbour's consistency (of sucking on the road) by consistently playing dreadfully inconsistent. If there seems to be one thing that Oilers fans can expect, its that you never have any idea what team will show up on any given night. While it hasn't been mentioned a lot in the media, the Oilers are also dreadful away from Rexall place, winning only 6 games on the road, losing 11. Sure Smyth and Moreau are out, but this team should have enough veterans and skilled players to win a few hockey games without those two. Some players that really need to step it up in my opinion are Sykora (who was next to useless without Hemsky spoon feeding him) and Joffry Lupul, who seems to refuse to get his nose dirty. Lupul especially (whether fairly or not) is expected to be a contributor on this team, and he's simply not a very complete player right now.

Over the next couple weeks the focus of this blog will be shifting to the annual U-20 World Junior Championship. After dropping their game vs the CIS 'All Star' Squad, and now their second pre tournament exhibition game, i am a little worried about team Canada. Apparently first day in Sweden head coach Craig Hartsburg had to tear a strip off the team because of their general unpreparedness, and Pierre Maguire said the veterans in that game looked 'dopey.' This is not the attitude of a winning team.

One of three things will happen in my opinion:

(1) The team gets a wake up call from that exhibition loss, gets refocused and wins the tournamet

(2) The team has lacksadaisical attitude, experiences some early in tournament trouble, re-focuses and wins the tournament

(3) The team has a lackadaisical attitude, runs over the competition early and when they hit adversity in the elimination round they fold and are done until next year.

I for one, am hoping for option (1) or (2).

First game December 26th, 12:30 pm ET / 9:30 am PT on TSN, Canada faces host team Sweden. Carey Price will be starting for Canada in net.