Time to summon the Game 7 mentality

Canada leans on its experience to win

The spring of 2011 is one Team Canada captain Chris Kelly won’t forget, a marathon that put the veteran forward through the ultimate hockey test.

Hoisting the Stanley Cup at the end of it was the prize for Kelly then, but it took three Game 7 wins with his Boston Bruins to reach that pinnacle. To get the ultimate prize at the Olympics, Kelly and his teammates will have to win the equivalent of three more Game 7s, starting with a date against Finland in Wednesday ’s quarter-final.

In a tournament that so far has been about jockeying for position, it’s time to get serious.

“I like to describe it as you feel sick,” the Toronto native said when asked what it’s like to be in a one-game elimination situation. “Excitement. Nervousness. It’s all good energy.

“When you’re playing hockey as a game on the street, you’re dreaming about the Olympics or you’re dreaming about the Stanley Cup. To have the opportunity to experience both — I could pinch myself.”

So far, the Canadian team has taken care of business, getting through the elimination round without a regulation loss. They were particularly strong in a win against the Swiss, were game in a shootout loss to the Czechs and turned it on in the third period to breeze by South Korea.

Things get considerably more difficult now, however, starting with the Finns. If the Canadians get through and the bracket holds to form, Sweden would be the semifinal opponent and the favoured Russians in the gold medal game.

It’s not an ideal draw, one created by that narrow shootout defeat. But the Canadians feel they can contend for the brightest of medals.

“There’s always going to be the thought that your quarter-final age could be against a lesser opponent but there’s no controlling that,” Team Canada general manager Sean Burke told Postmedia. “You lose a game in a shootout and that’s the way the draw falls.

“Ultimately to win a tournament like this you’re going to have to beat good teams at the right time. The Finns are a very, very good hockey team. I see this game as being every bit as intense as the next game or the final would be.

“But I don’t think the (Finns) are sitting around thinking it’s great that they’ve drawn Canada in the semifinal, either.”

On the plus side, Canada has surrendered just three goals in three games and is getting production from all four lines. For the most part, the players have worked hard enough to make up for the lack of talent and have put themselves in the mix of a tournament that remains wide open.

“It’s like what we expected, it’s been a very competitive tournament,” Burke said.