Young guns have growing up to do
WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY: Skill and speed still prevalent, but structure and discipline needed against top teams
They still might be the fastest team in the tournament. But slowly and surely others are catching up.
It was inevitable, really. While there was an element of surprise for Team North America heading into the World Cup of Hockey with Connor McDavid and Co. taking advantage of a slower and older Team Europe in back-to-back exhibition game wins, the secret is now out.
As we saw in the team’s final exhibition game, a grinding 3-2 exhibition loss against the Czech Republic Wednesday at Consol Energy Center, this collection of youngsters can no longer catch opponents off guard with blinding speed, ridiculous skill and freewheeling style of play.
For them to advance past the round-robin portion of the tournament, which begins for North America on Sunday with a game against Finland, they will have to play smarter and more physical. They will have to not only generate chances, but also limit their opponents. They need structure and discipline.
In other words, the kids have to grow up.
“I think it was a real eye-opener for us for the way the tournament is going to go,” said North America captain Connor McDavid, who went without a point in three pre-tournament games. “We’re not going to play every game 7-4 or 4-0. It was a good test for us.”
Unlike Europe, which tried and failed to match North America’s speed and skill game, the Czech Republic’s game plan was to limit what made its opponent so dangerous. As assistant coach Vaclav Prospal said, “They have a lot of talent on that hockey team. The only way we can succeed is if we play in their zone.”
The Czechs got pucks deep. They finished hits. They play the type of physical, no-nonsense game that North America is going to see a lot more of when this tournament gets started and they face off in the round robin against Finland, Russia and Sweden.
“I think it’s good that we realized we have a lot of room to get better,” said defenceman Morgan Rielly. “When you play a team like that, they hit, they check you tight and I think it’s good to get an experience like that before it gets for real ... it’s only going to get our team better.”
To North America’s credit, the team finished the exhibition schedule with a 2-1 record, having outscored its opponents 13-7. There are wrinkles in its game that need to be ironed out. But the good sign for North America is that even when it was pushed — giving up a 2-0 lead against the Czech Republic — the team had the personnel willing to push back.
“As a team, I think this was a wakeup call for us,” said Auston Matthews, who at 18 is the youngest player on the team. “Those first two games, maybe we had it too easy. I think today it forced us to play more of a man’s game.”
Down 2-0 in the third period, North America tied the game on goals from Shayne Gostisbehere and Matthews. It looked like North America was going to complete the comeback before Czech Republic’s Tomas Plekanec scored the game-winner on a fluke goal from the side of the net.
Even so, this was not a loss that exposed North America as one of the weaker teams in the tournament. If anything, it served as further warning of the potential firepower at their disposal.
North America outshot the Czechs 44-29. Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Scheifele each had a breakaway and the team had seven power-play opportunities. If not for goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who was perfect on all 25 shots he faced before being pulled midway through the second period for Petr Mrazek, this could have been a different outcome.
“I thought we got better as the night went on,” said head coach Todd McLellan.
“We made a couple of critical mistakes that ended up in our net. Our team did respond and we needed that.”