Canada wins thriller to take title
Marchand scores in final minute to seal tournament championship
On the morning of the World Cup of Hockey final, the talk wasn’t so much about whether Canada would win. It was by how much.
That’s where we are with the men’s hockey program.
We expect dominance. In Game 1 against Europe, Canada had played its worst game of the tournament and still managed to come out with a 3-1 win. It was as embarrassing an outcome as you could ask for — minus losing, of course.
This time, said the players, they not only wanted to win. but make a statement.
“I think after that game, it didn’t feel like a normal win for us with the way that we played,” said Team Canada forward Logan Couture.
“You win the game but you know we didn’t play well. We expect a lot out of ourselves.”
Cocky? Totally. But what do you expect? This was a country that went undefeated in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi — they allowed just three goals — and had rolled through this year’s World Cup of Hockey without a loss.
When Europe kept things close in Game 1, the thinking was it was more a reflection of how poorly Canada had played and not the other way around.
And then Game 2 began and Zdeno Chara sneaked a shot over Carey Price’s shoulder at 6:26 in the first period and things got interesting. Canada, which was dominant to the point where its games were boring, finally got challenged.
That they managed to push back with two goals in the final three minutes of the third period to win 2-1 might not have been the kind of statement that Couture was talking about.
But it sure made for some high drama. And it spoke to just how good this team has been dating back to the last two Olympics.
After Europe’s Anze Kopitar took a holding penalty, Canada’s Patrice Bergeron redirected a point shot from Brent Burns to tie the game with 2:53 remaining in the third period.
Then, with Europe on the power play and overtime looming — or, worse, Game 3 — Jonathan Toews rushed up the ice and dropped the puck to Brad Marchand, who scored his tournament-leading fifth goal with 43.1 seconds left in the game.
“Yeah, they could’ve won,” said Sidney Crosby, who was the MVP of the tournament with three goals and 10 points in six games.
“We didn’t want a Game 3. Anything can happen in one game. “We had one good push in us.” Throughout the tournament, we bemoaned the fact that the gap between Canada and the rest of the world was so massive that the World Cup should put its name on the line and adopt a Ryder Cup format, with an all-world all-star team challenging the host country.
Even then, most would still put money on Canada winning.
You have to think some of that talk entered into Europe’s dressing room. This was a made-up team composed of players from eight different countries, but they still had pride. As Frans Nielsen said, “we always thought we had a good team in here, but everyone kept laughing at us and we didn’t know why.”
Canada didn’t get the start it had hoped for. Come to think of it, this wasn’t the opponent anyone had expected, either.
For the first time in this tournament, Canada had a game where the outcome didn’t seem inevitable. For the first time, Canada was challenged and had to claw back.
“They played their hearts out,” said Team Europe head coach Ralph Krueger.
“It’s extremely painful to see the final result, but I have nothing but pride with the way the group performed today ... we turned this into a hell of a final.”
Playing the same structured defensive style that led to surprising wins against the United States and Sweden, Europe was a frustrating opponent.
At times, it seemed as though the entire roster was made up of two-way forwards who relentlessly backchecked, blocked shots and broke up passes.
Europe’s players didn’t go into a defensive shell. If anything, they pressed for more goals. Canada was outshot 12-8 in the first period. By the end of the second, the shots were 27-21 in favour of Europe.
If not for Price, who faced far too many breakaways and oddman rushes, this could have been a blowout.
At the other end, Jaroslav Halak was nearly perfect. When he wasn’t, his post certainly was.
At times, it seemed like it was going to be one of those nights for Canada. But with the clock ticking down and it looking like this was going to be heading to a Game 3 on Saturday, the Canadians once again did their usual thing.
It was a wild finish — but, oh so predictable, considering the winning team.