SEMI CONCERNED
Canada needs to fix offence before game with U.S.
Just once before it’s all over and our laptops go off to MacHeaven, we want to hear a hockey coach say: “I was surprised that ...”
Or, “I have to admit, I was wondering if our guys were ever going to ...”
Or, “I was already rehearsing my ‘I’m sorry, Canada’ speech.”
Mike Babcock’s never going to give us that. What he’s going to give us is a half-dozen reasons he’s thrilled to beat the mighty Latvians 2-1 on a late goal by yet another Team Canada defenceman — this time Shea Weber — because his forwards can’t seem to put the puck in the Black Sea off the end of the pier.
Were Canadians back home and in the stands of Bolshoy Ice Dome surprised? Damn right.
Were Canadians worried, frantic, deathly afraid, living in dread of an upset by a team of mostly KHL players of whom they had never heard? Absolutely. Babcock? “We just talked about the hockey gods. You just keep doing things right, you’re going to be rewarded,” said the Detroit Red Wings coach. “We had some chances. So we just thought if we kept doing it, we’d get a break, we’d score a goal. Did I want to win 7-1? Absolutely. Do I think it’s better for my team that we won the way we did? For sure.”
Well, the hockey gods took their sweet time.
And though he may be correct about a nerve-racking, obstacle course of a game being better for the team’s mindset heading into the semifinals against Team USA, it can’t possibly be better for the confidence.
Still, say what you will about Babcock’s stubbornness, his arrogance, his mystifying lineup decisions; the man never, ever sounds less than upbeat about tomorrow.
And that’s a good thing, because tomorrow — well, Friday, depending on where you’re reading this — Canada is about to play a United States team that is simply rolling through the opposition. And somewhat better-quality opposition than Canada has faced, and struggled to subdue, at that.
Norway, Austria, Finland, Latvia. That’s been what’s on the menu for Canada. Not exactly Murderer’s Row, but they’ve been life-and-death to win two of those games, and only scored three on lowly Norway.
His players were a little more forthcoming, but only a little.
How many oh-no moments did you have, Ryan Getzlaf ?
“A lot of them,” said the big Anaheim centre. “They played great. They came after us. They played hard. They shut us down. When you’re not scoring goals, there could be one break that goes their way or our goalie falls asleep. But (Carey Price) played great, too.”
The Canadians surrendered just 16 shots, but an alarming number of them were good scoring chances, and Price had to be vigilant. Given that Latvia had played 24 hours earlier, not to mention the teams’ talent disparity, it wasn’t shocking that the Canadians fired 57 shots at the Latvian net: but managing to get only two of them past Kristers Gudlevskis, the 21-year-old goalie from the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL, a fifthround draft pick by Tampa Bay last summer, was a considerable shock.
Asked what he’d say to Tampa (and Team Canada) GM Steve Yzerman next time he saw him, Gudlevskis smiled and said: “You’re lucky.” And he’s not wrong. Price battled the puck at times, but he kept it out of the net when it counted.
“It doesn’t matter what that guy is doing at the other end of the ice,” Price said.
“He might be playing the game of his life, when that puck comes across the red line you’ve got to be ready and do your job.”
No doubt he’ll have to do more of it when he faces the Americans, who have scored for fun compared to the offensively challenged Canadians, who have received seven of their 13 total goals from just two defencemen: Drew Doughty (4) and Weber (3).
The Americans have scored 20 goals, 17 of them by forwards, and they’ve played real teams, like the Russians and the Czechs and the Slovaks. Canada has played Finland.
That’s not to say the Latvians didn’t play like men possessed. They did, and good on them. But watching Canada flub chance after scoring chance from gimme range, two days before having to crank it up to a whole other level against Team USA, was not encouraging. Even Babcock noticed. “The puck just seems to be going in the net for them. I’ve watched some of their action, and they seem to be scoring easy. The Pavelski line (with Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk) seems to be just flying and filling the net. And we haven’t had that,” he said.
“We feel we have quality players who have gotten quality opportunities, real good looks, and we haven’t scored. It’s my experience over time with playoff-type hockey (that) this stuff happens. In the end, though, you can’t usually keep the skilled guys who score and are determined down. I’m optimistic to say the least.
“What matters is we had an opportunity to advance, we had an opportunity to play (again). The team we’re playing, though, seems to score easy and we haven’t scored easy.”
Can they really fix that in a day-and-a-half ? Babcock has no doubt of it. Wonder if his players feel the same way?