MOTHER NATURE’S ‘OFFSIDE’
Blizzard-like conditions play major factor in outdoor game at world junior tourney
Falling snow, and lots of it, is nothing out of the ordinary in western New York during the cold winter months.
People didn’t expect Mother Nature to give Canada and the United States a free pass Friday at the 2018 world junior hockey championship, did they?
Not a chance.
In the first outdoor game in the history of the tournament, Canada couldn’t hold on to a two-goal lead in the third period and lost 4-3 in a shootout at New Era Field.
Kieffer Bellows and Brady Tkachuk scored goals for the U.S. in the shootout, beating goaltender Carter Hart.
Canadians Sam Steel, Rob Thomas, Taylor Raddysh and Drake Batherson could not beat U.S. goalie Jake Oettinger in the shootout.
Light snow was falling when the game started in the home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. That progressed to heavy flurries in blizzard-like conditions throughout much of the second and third periods, ensuring those hired to clean the ice during TV timeouts were earning their wages to the last penny.
Vast amounts of the white stuff was being carted off the ice in garbage cans and wheel barrows.
“It was a cool experience,” Canada defenceman Kale Clague said. “Playing in front of that many fans in an outdoor game. I will always remember it, (but) I think the weather was a little bit offside.”
That was the rub in an atmosphere that was, at times, breathtaking.
Let’s put it nicely: no single play will be among the event’s highlights when the tournament ends Jan. 5.
The weather and ice conditions were impactful and it was easy to wonder how much better the game between intense rivals would have been had it been played in a normal hockey environment.
“It was difficult,” Canada defenceman Dante Fabbro said. “You look at small breakdowns, a lot of it was guys overskating pucks and getting caught in snow and things like that. It was definitely tough to make passes and plays. You would lose the puck in the snow and you could not find where it was, but it was like that for both teams.”
Still, the hockey spectacle for one day was special and unique and won’t be forgotten by anyone involved.
The loss served as more pain for the seven Canadian players — Hart, Clague, Fabbro, Raddysh, Jake Bean, Dillon Dube and Michael McLeod — who were part of the team last winter that lost to the U.S. in a shootout in the gold-medal game in Montreal.
“Tough pill to swallow once again, losing to the Americans in a shootout,” McLeod said. “Only good thing was that it’s just the round robin.”
Said U.S. coach Bob Motzko: “The only way it’s a rivalry is that both teams have to win. And the pendulum will come back some day. I just hope it’s not this year.”
Canada plays Denmark in its final game today and would clinch Group A with a victory. In world junior history, Canada is 4-0 against Denmark and has outscored the Danes 28-4.
On Friday, traffic woes, long waits at the Canada-U.S. border and a thorough security team at the stadium gates meant thousands of fans were not in their seats for the game’s start. The stands filled in, however, and
when the final tally was taken, there was a world-junior record. Attendance was announced as 44,592, easily beating the previous mark of 20,380 in Ottawa in 2009.
Canada built a 2-0 lead in the first period on power-play goals by Cale Makar and Dube. Bellows scored in the second for the U.S., but Boris Katchouk restored Canada’s two-goal lead 72 seconds later.
In the third, Scott Perunovich and Tkachuk, with the tying goal, scored 34 seconds apart. Casey Mittelstadt assisted on all three U.S. goals.
Would Canada coach Dominique Ducharme rather have had the game against such a rival played indoors under normal hockey circumstances?
“If you look at the result, if we had to lose, we better lose in overtime or in a shootout,” Ducharme said. “A win (against Denmark) and we finish first.”