WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY
Team Canada wins opener
Outside the Air Canada Centre, Maple Leaf Square looked almost vacant except for a few stragglers peering up at the game on the big screen.
Inside, there were large chunks of empty seats, most in the higher-priced sections.
At times on this night, the ACC appeared to be a place where atmosphere went to die.
And at times, Team Canada appeared to be as lifeless as the crowd watching it.
As much as Team Europe deserved to be here, the Anze Kopitars, Marian Hossas and Zdeno Charas of the world simply couldn’t get the fans — or Team Canada, for that matter — as emotional as they probably should have been for a World Cup of Hockey final.
Give Team Europe credit for sucking the life out of Team Canada and the building it was playing in.
Ralph Krueger’s team played a close checking style that clogged the neutral zone and didn’t allow the Canadians to accrue any north-south speed on its line rushes.
By the way, what is the minimum speed a line “rush” can be?
Fortunately for coach Mike Babcock and his players, they had just enough game to squeeze out a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night in the opener of this best-of-three final. Game 2 goes Thursday with Canada up 1-0 and in position to clinch.
In the days leading up to the final, Kopitar acknowledged Team Europe did not play the type of fire-wagon hockey most viewers likely clamour to see. No sizzle. No pizzazz. None of it.
“But it’s effective and it got us here,” he said. He was right on both counts. This was not the Russians, who have been rivals to Canadian hockey dating back to 1972 and the Soviet Union days.
This was not the Americans, Canada’s neighbours to the south who ended up being the biggest flops of the tournament.
And this certainly wasn’t Team North America, the electrifying collection of 23-and-under players from the U.S. and Canada that captured the hearts and the imaginations of the hockey world thanks to the raw talent and speed of players such as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Johnny Gaudreau.
That in no way should be construed as a shot at Team Europe. As Krueger mentioned Monday, the hosts have four No. 1 lines. Slowing the game down was Team Europe’s best recipe to stay close.
Krueger was right on most of those points, but we’d like to correct him on one thing: Team Canada does have a line that has played above the rest, at least in this tournament.
Indeed, even on a night where the Canadians lacked spunk, it was the reliable trio of captain Sidney Crosby, the always consistent Patrice Bergeron and the feisty Brad Marchand — he of the recently-signed eight-year, US$49-million extension with the Boston Bruins — who led the way.
Marchand, who agreed to the deal on Monday, had a busy few minutes in the early going.
Just 21 seconds into the game, the Bruins pepper pot was called for a cross-checking penalty, living up to the “Little Ball of Hate” nickname President Obama reminded him of during the Bruins visit to the White House after winning the Stanley Cup in 2011.
But Marchand is no longer just an agitator, as his teammates with the Bruins and Team Canada can attest,
Sure enough, his hockey skills were on display when he stepped out of the penalty box after serving that early minor and immediately gave Canada a 1-0 lead, converting a nifty feed from Bergeron past Team Europe goalie Jaroslav Halak. Crosby drew the second helper on the goal, his tournament-leading eighth point.
About 10 minutes later, the snake-bitten Steven Stamkos finally got that monkey off his back by finishing off a beautiful setup from Ryan Getzlaf to put Canada up 2-0. After having failed to find the back of the net to that point in the tourney despite enjoying countless Grade A scoring chances, the hard work of the Tampa Bay Lightning captain finally paid off.
Team Europe narrowed the Canadian lead to 2-1 at 7:00 of the second period on a nice goal off the stick of Red Wings’ forward Tomas Tatar. That goal certainly sent ripples of angst through the building, those in attendance understanding that this would not be the cakewalk many predicted.
But as has been so often the case in this World Cup, Crosby’s line came to the rescue again, this time thanks to a prototypical perfect pass from the Team Canada captain to Bergeron, who made no mistake in giving Canada a 3-1 advantage.
Was it pretty? Heck, no. Were people in the stands pumped with an adrenalin rush from start to finish? Hardly.
But Team Canada didn’t care. All that mattered is that the Canadians have now won 15 consecutive games with Babcock behind the bench dating back to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
One more, and they’ll be World Cup champions.
Besides, they don’t award the trophy for artistic merit.
Good thing, too.