Welcome to crossover nightmare
Lose the game, and it’s pack your kit and go home
They’re the cursed quarter- final crossover games. And cursed is the right word.
There are no lack of people involved in the IIHF world junior that refer to them as “the &%+#$^ crossover games.”
The crossover games of an IIHF tournament produce a type of pressure like no other games. The focus isn’t on winning — it’s on not losing.
Lose the cursed crossover game on the first day of play in the New Year and you go home. Lose and, especially if you went into the event with expectations of playing in the medal round, and especially if you went into the tournament as most everybody’s pick to win gold medal, you head home on a flight of shame. It’s the team equivalent of a player’s skate of shame from the penalty box after a game-winning goal on a power play.
If you’re from the host nation it’s even worse. You have to watch four teams advance to the medal round and play for the three medals. At least in this case there wouldn’t be 18,000- plus fans in the stands. That would be next year when the same 10 teams return for a do- over in front of fans that sold out both Edmonton and Red Deer buildings in just a few hours.
But this year, with so many people making the ‘ Home Alone’ IIHF Edmonton 2021 coronavirus pandemic edition of the event on TSN the centrepiece of their holiday season, there’s added pressure there.
To this point the top teams have been playing with a net. Now they’re not.
Jan. 2 is always the day when the playoff teams from Group A cross over and meet the playoff teams from Group B — first-place teams versus fourth- place teams and second- place teams versus third-place teams.
After Team Canada’s highly impressive first 40 minutes to completely come together and absolutely overwhelm Finland — outshooting the Suomi squad 17-1 in the first period en route to a 4-1 win to finish first in Group A — the prize was Group B fourthplace Czech Republic for the crossover game.
With Sweden’s i ncredible 54- game winning streak ending after 15 years Wednesday with a 4- 3 overtime loss to Russia and then the Tre Kronor club following up with a 4- 0 loss to USA Thursday, the Americans finished first in Group B.
Tim Stuetzle, the Ottawa No. 3 overall pick in the draft, led Germany to their first time qualifying for a quarter-final in world junior history by finishing third in the incredibly impotent group. And that was despite entering the bubble with eight players testing positive for COVID and having to play their first two games back-to-back with 14 skaters and losing 16-2 to a Canadian team with all but five players having played but one pre-tournament game since mid March.
So on Crossover Saturday in Rogers Place, it’s: Russia- Germany, Finland- Sweden, Canada- Czechs and Usa-slovakia.
Finland- Sweden has to be considered a toss- up with Canada, Russia and USA the obvious favourites in t he other matchups.
But it’s the cursed crossover game. Stuff happens.
TSN play- by- play man Gord Miller knows the animal better than anybody. This is his 26th world junior and he’s in double figures calling IIHF world championships as well.
“Every year at least one lower seed beats a higher seed in a world junior quarter- final,” said the Edmonton- born and - raised broadcaster Friday morning on his cellphone from the bubble. “Every year!”
It’s a phenomenon. But maybe it makes sense.
“If you look at the greatest Edmonton Oilers teams and the greatest Montreal Canadiens teams, they all lost playoff games. But here, if you lose the quarter- final crossover playoff game, you’re done. There’s no second chance, you go home. If you lose the semifinal game you get to play in the bronze medal game.
“This is a dangerous game. And every year a lower seed beats a higher seed. The Swiss beat the Russians in 2010 in Saskatoon. Last year Finland beat the U.S. 1- 0. There are lots of examples,” Miller said.
USA beat top seed Sweden winning the crossover game against them in 2000 and hammering them in 2005. Slovakia upset USA in 2009 and repeated the feat against Russia in 2019 and perhaps the biggest was Finland over Canada, also in 2019.
“You were there when Canada lost the quarter- final five straight years at the world championships and when Belarus upset Sweden at the Olympics in Salt Lake City. Remember that?” said Miller.
“This format is just ripe for that to happen. If you say to a lower seed that they had to play a best of seven, there’s no way they’d beat them. But if you give them a onegame shot they’ll take it.”
Canada- Czech could be one of those cursed crossover games. The Czechs have not won a medal at this tournament in 16 years. But they played a near- perfect game to upset Russia 2- 0. They were outplayed in their other games. If they can play that one game again in the quarter-final …