USA TODAY International Edition
CANADA’S CHOKEHOLD
Defense, offense come together in golden moment
With Canada’s 3- 0 victory against Sweden, it marks the first time Canada has won an Olympic gold medal outside of North America since Oslo in 1952. It is its ninth Olympic gold.
Canada won the gold
SOCHI medal in men’s hockey Sunday to cap what should be called one of the most impressive team performances in Olympic history.
“That was definitely the best team I ever played against, for sure,” Swedish defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said.
The Canadians went 6- 0 while surrendering three goals in the tournament.
They won the semifinals by a 1- 0 shutout against the USA and the gold medal game by a 3- 0 count against Sweden. The Canadians didn’t give up a goal in their last eight periods of play.
“We were just deeper than every team in the tournament,” Canada center Matt Duchene said. “You look at our top line and our fourth line. And the guys who sat out, they are starters for every other team in the tournament.”
This is the Canadians’ third Olympic gold in the last four Games, and Canada is the first country to win back- to- back gold medals since the Soviet Union won in 1984 and 1988.
Despite the presence of dominant offensive players, the Canadians were not a high- scoring machine. Instead, they played smothering defense.
In the gold medal final, it didn’t seem like the Swedes had any good scoring opportunities in the last 25 minutes of the game.
“They played great defense,” Hjalmarsson said. “Honestly, we didn’t have that many offensive chances, maybe one or two.”
It seemed like the Canadians were everywhere on the ice, always in position, always seemingly outnumbering the Swedes when they attacked.
“There were a lot of complaints early that we didn’t score, but I thought we were dominant,” Canada coach Mike Babcock said.
Some of the complaints were directed at Sidney Crosby, who had only a couple of assists until he scored a crucial second goal in the gold medal game.
“Everybody wants to talk about Sid all the time and the things he’s not doing or doing,” Canada’s Ryan Getzlaf said. “But in big games, he shows up.”
Interestingly, the Canadians didn’t come into the tournament thinking they were going to be a defensive monster. “Great defense means you play defense fast and you have the puck all of the time,” Babcock said.
For all of the fanfare that the Russian hockey team received in Sochi, Canada sets the pace in international hockey. Since the NHL started sending players to the Olympics in 1998, the Canadians are the only team that has won more than one gold medal.
Canada’s general manager, Steve Yzerman, was asked if this Canadian team was the most dominant of all time, and he didn’t want to go there. He has too much respect for the history of international competition.
“As far as defensively, pucks stayed out of the net, quality scoring chances, shots on goal, it was a pretty dominant performance by the players and coaches,” Yzerman said.
At the very least, this Canadian march to the gold medal is the most dominant run to a gold medal in recent years.