Getting past the what-ifs
Team Canada must now regroup to play for bronze
UFA, Russia • If he had to do it over, head coach Steve Spott said that maybe he would have injected some snarl into the pre-game proceedings. He wasn’t alone with his musings.
There will be a lot of what ifs and should haves for Team Canada as the group now prepares for Saturday’s bronzemedal game against Russia at the world junior hockey championship.
Despite an influx of players who would have been in the NHL had the league not locked its doors, despite all the preparations that went into the trip to Russia, the Canadians stumbled out of the gate in their semifinal game against the high-flying U.S. team and were defeated 5-1.
The Americans, who last appeared in the final in 2010, defeating Canada 6-5 to claim the gold, will meet the defending champs from Sweden in the finale at Ufa Arena.
Canada will attempt to salvage its pride by not leaving empty-handed.
“It’s not our divine right to win gold medals. This is a global sport now,” said Spott. “I understand the pressure as a staff. We understand the pressure that comes with some of the firepower that we have but these are all quality teams. These are all worldclass teams and when you get down to one game, anything can happen in junior hockey.”
Canada has not laid claim to the gold medal since 2009, back when it defeated Sweden 5-1 in Ottawa. It last appeared in the final in 2011, losing 5-3 to Russia.
This time around the Canadian team had Ryan NugentHopkins, the Edmonton Oilers centre, and had Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets) and Ryan Strome (New York Islanders) to name a few of the players with ties to the NHL.
They were also players who had the bitter taste of 2012 still lingering in their collective memories.
Yet for the second straight year, Canada emerged from the preliminary round with an undefeated record then blew it in the semi. The Americans owned the opening period on Thursday and after captain Jake McCabe netted a pair of first-period goals, and got solid goaltending from John Gibson, who has been outstanding throughout the tournament.
Canadian Malcolm Subban was pulled after the fourth goal but he cannot shoulder all the responsibility.
Nugent-Hopkins, the captain, who was all-world leading up to the semi, couldn’t make a difference against the U.S. and even took a slashing penalty in the second when frustration got the better of him.
There was, however, no sure starter when the team broke camp, nor did Spott rule out the possibility of starting Jordan Binnington on Saturday. Canada hasn’t had a goaltender able to carry the team since Carey Price in 2007.
“It’s just like last year,” said Huberdeau, one of the players looking for bronze for the second straight year. “Ahhh, I’m going to stop talking about last year because it’s not good. It’s going to be hard.
“We have to turn the page on this game and try to focus on the bronze. (The bye) is supposed to be an advantage but we didn’t take it. It’s supposed to be good, but it seems like we didn’t have legs at the beginning and they were all over us.”
Canada and Russia met in the preliminary round with the visitors scoring a 4-1 victory.