There’s nothing second class about the worlds
There were tears of joy trickling down Henrik Lundqvist’s cheeks and sobs of sorrow on the Team Canada bench.
If ever there was a snapshot of what the world hockey championship signifies to those who participate in them, this was it.
What Canada and Sweden produced in the gold-medal game Sunday in Cologne, Germany, was riveting theatre, an exhilarating display that again showed there is no better sport on the planet when it is played at this level.
No, it’s not the Olympics. Nor is it the Stanley Cup playoffs. No one is saying that. Nor should they.
But in the seconds after the Swedes had posted a nail-biting 2-1 shootout victory, try telling the players involved — at least at that exact moment in time — that this was a secondary event.
Indeed, try telling that to Maple Leafs forward William Nylander, who once the final horn had sounded left his feet and tackled Lundqvist in a raw exhibit of joy.
Try telling that to the exhausted Canadian players who had their heads buried in their arms, having played for the crest on their jerseys, not for a paycheque that didn’t exist.
And try telling that to the viewing audiences in both countries, who were left thirsting for more.
As we close the book on the 2017 worlds, here are some of the top take-aways we are left with.
SHOOTOUT SILLINESS: Enough already. This isn’t soccer. Let the players determine the outcome of a championship via a golden goal, not a penalty shot sideshow.
It’s understandable for logistical reasons if organizers want to use such a format leading up to the title game. But when it comes to a one-game showdown to determine who’s best, let’s crown a team because it won at hockey, not a practice drill.
PLAYER PASSION: From the time NHLers have participated in the Olympics, many of the countries involved have looked favourably on players who attend the worlds when it comes time to pick rosters for the Olympics. As such, with it appearing more likely that the NHL won’t go to South Korea in February, there were predictions that the number of rejected invites to the worlds would balloon. Yet that didn’t stop Lundqvist, Nicklas Backstrom, Johnny Gaudreau, Victor Hedman, Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Claude Giroux and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, among others, from attending.
YOUNG GUNS 2.0: Remember the electrifying World Cup performance turned in eight months ago by Team North America? It was a glimpse into where the sport is headed, a new generation of speed and skill. For the last three weeks, we were again reminded of that thanks to a cache of 25-and-under talent that included the likes of MacKinnon, Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Dylan Larkin, Gabriel Landeskog, Nik Ehlers, Sebastian Aho, Leon Draisaitl, Mark Scheifele, Mitch Marner, Brayden Point, Travis Konecny, Colton Parayko, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Evgeny Kuznetsov and tournament MVP Nylander, just to name a few.
CANADIAN CLASS: While twotime Olympic champ and World Cup-winning coach Mike Babcock seems to have a stranglehold on most Team Canada bench boss duties, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jon Cooper showed he’s worthy of consideration down the road. This wasn’t the most experienced Canadian team, yet they bought into Cooper’s message and did not lose a game in regulation over the entire event. Moreover, Cooper and his team took the high road when it came to the way they were sent to defeat in the final.
“We don’t feel like we lost a hockey game tonight, we feel like we lost a shootout,” Cooper told reporters. “I told our guys, ‘Hang your head high.’ We knew the rules going in, it was part of the format and they bested us … In the end, they deserved to be world champs.”
SIZZLING SABRE: We can’t call Ryan O’Reilly ‘Captain Canada.’ That’s Ryan Smyth’s title. But the leadership the veteran centre showed on and off the ice was impressive to say the least. Incoming Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill certainly must have been enthused by what he saw.