On paper, Europe likely overmatched
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TORONTO — David had it easy.
For starters, he didn’t have to contend with an opponent who could roll four menacing units, each potentially as lethal as the one before it.
His only challenge was to take out a single opponent who, let’s face it, couldn’t have been all that much bigger than Zdeno Chara.
And David needed only a single, well-placed shot to do it.
It will take a lot more than that for Team Europe to survive its best-of-three World Cup championship series against the hockey Goliath that is Canada.
Game 1 is at 8 p.m. today at Air Canada Centre, and anything shy of divine intervention might not be enough to save Team Europe.
It is constructed of players from eight nations, and is beginning to rival Team North America as the feel-good story of this tournament. Trouble is, good feelings rarely make it through a game intact against Canada, which has won its past 14 games in international competitions.
Canada has outscored its opponents, 15-6, in this World Cup and has outshot them, 177-117.
No surprise, then, that it has led for 201 minutes, 19 seconds of the 240 minutes it has played.
Canada surely has some flaw, however minor, but no one has detected — let alone, exploited — it yet.
The only significant hurdle it has faced in the World Cup came in a semifinal Saturday against Russia, when it fell behind by a goal late in the second period. And stayed there for all of 72 seconds, then ran off four unanswered goals.
“It was interesting to see them get their first adversity of the tournament, how they reacted to it,” Team Europe coach Ralph Krueger said. “Their reaction was nothing but power and strength.”
Those qualities have been embodied by Canadian captain Sidney Crosby, the only Penguins player left in the tournament.
He leads the World Cup in scoring with seven points — linemate Brad Marchand is second with five — and has been a force all over the ice. He also has scored the first goal in three of his team’s four games.
Containing Crosby will be high on Europe’s to-do list if it hopes to upset Canada, but that’s hardly all it will take. Europe must also:
• Limit, if not eliminate, mistakes, especially in the defensive zone. Having a veteran roster should help in that regard.
• Continue to get stellar goaltending from Jaroslav Halak who, some might recall, was largely responsible for Montreal’s upset of the Penguins in the 2010 playoffs. Halak’s goals-against average (1.96) and save percentage (.947) are among the best in the tournament. Of course, Canada goalie Carey Price has even better numbers (1.67, .948).
• Score a power-play goal or two. Europe is 0 for 13 with the extra man. Manufacturing even-strength goals against Canada is difficult, and losing Marian Gaborik to a foot injury won’t help Europe’s offense.
Team Europe is aware of all of that, and acknowledges that Canada is a near-prohibitive favorite to win the tournament.
Nonetheless, its players and staff insist the team made up of near-strangers has grown together and become something greater than the sum of its parts.
“I don’t see a difference between the Slovaks and the Swiss and the Danes and Norwegians or anybody right now,” Krueger said. “It’s one team, really.
“I do not see any flags, anytime this team has been together, and that’s probably one of their strengths. They have their flags on their arms and have them in their hearts, but they’ve dropped their flags for the group.”
True enough. But much of the hockey world suspects it might just be time for Team Europe to begin looking around for a white one.