Canada not buying Czech underdog story

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Underselling your team’s chances against Canada is becoming a popular tactic among coaches at the world junior hockey championship.

First, Swiss coach Christian Wohlwend predicted that Canada would crush his team two days before the Canadians routed Switzerland 8-2 in the tournament’s quarterfinal. Now Czech coach Filip Pesan said it would take divine intervention for his team to beat Canada in today’s semifinal.

“Miracles can happen. We’re going to be ready,” said Pesan on Wednesday after practicing at KeyBank Center.

Many of Canada’s players thought that Wohlwend’s criticisms of his Swiss team – the youngest at the tournament – was a ploy to motivate his players and lull the Canadians into a false sense of security. They see Pesan’s declaration as more of the same.

“Another one?” said Canadian head coach Dominique Ducharme. “We’re thinking about ourselves. That’s not really original.”

“I don’t think they’re giving themselves enough credit,” added captain Dillon Dube. “I think they’re trying to go pressure free throughout this whole thing. I think every- body’s putting the pressure on Canada this year because we’re a dominating team.

“Because we’re the team coming out of Group A they’re trying to put the pressure on us and wanting us to crack.”

Pesan trying to sell the Czech Republic as underdogs against Canada is a bit of a stretch. Although the Canadians rocked the Czech Republic 9-0 on Dec. 20 in a pretournament exhibition in London, Ont., it wasn’t a true test. Canada was just days removed from its selection camp and without Dube or defenceman Dante Fabbro due to injury. The Czechs were missing several key players from their roster and were jetlagged, with most of the players having just arrived in North America.

Since then, the Czech Republic has impressed. They went 3-1-0 to finish second in Group B behind undefeated Sweden, with wins over Russia, Belarus and Switzerland. They also rallied to a 4-3 shootout win over Finland in their quarterfinal on Tuesday, largely thanks to goalie Josef Korenar’s 51save performance. Korenar only played five minutes of Canada’s 9-0 rout in the exhibition and faced no shots.

Carter Hart will start in net for Canada against the Czechs.