SWISS CHEESE
Canada’s men’s hockey team off to a flying start with lopsided victory over Switzerland
GANGNEUNG — General manager Sean Burke and coach Willie Desjardins don’t need the equivalent of a full, productive season from two of the Team Canada players that were among the closest to being NHL stars.
In fact, the Canadians need less than two weeks from all involved.
But with the play of Rene Bourque (he of 725 NHL games and 163 goals) and Derek Roy (738 games, 189 goals) on Thursday night, the two-time defending champs got off to a solid start to this Olympic hockey tournament loaded with unknowns.
Bourque scored a pair of goals while Roy had three assists and was one of the few players on either team to show poise with the puck as Canada cruised to a 5-1 win over Switzerland.
It was a game Canada was expected to win for sure, but with so many question marks and so little time to prepare, it was an impressive debut.
“Starting out like that and getting a goal early (Bourque’s first of the game just 2:57 in) really gave us a boost and everybody on the bench was super excited,”
Roy said. “There was a little bit of nerves at the beginning, but once we scored that goal everybody eased back and played the game.”
Roy understands that with the mixed bag of players on this team, NHL-hardened types like himself and Bourque will be counted on for a bigger role. He’s fine with that assignment, recognizing that this may be the final chance in his career for such a big moment.
“Every night I’m trying to be the best player on the ice and that’s my goal,” said Roy, the 34-year-old native of Rockland, Ont. “It doesn’t matter what league I’m playing in. If it’s being a leader by example then that’s what it is. I’m just trying to go out and do my thing to help my team win a hockey game.”
The Canadians got plenty of that from Bourque as well. Playing a dominant game down low, he got Canada on the board by deflecting a shot by Chris Lee then gave Canada a 3-0 lead when he seized the puck in front of the Swiss net and converted.
“We’re all playing for each other and it was a great team effort,” said Lee, a native of Mactier, Ont., who is one of just two players on the team never to play in the NHL. “It was nice to get rewarded for hard work.
“Bourque is a beast down low. Just to see him get rewarded for his hard work is pretty cool.”
The Olympic experience was new to all of the Canadian team including
Bourque who couldn’t stop to detail his exploits because he had a post-game date with doping control.
With the win, the Canadians can breathe a little easier as some of the pressure was lifted in a game played before a sparse crowd at the Kwandong Hockey Centre.
Recognizing the stakes and the pressure back home there were jitters early making the first Bourque goal so significant. Wojtek Wolski also scored two for Canada, one of them into an empty net with the fifth going to defenceman Maxim Moreau, whose rocket from the point beat starting Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni.
Ben Scrivens got the start in the Canadian net and made 27 saves for the win.
Roy admitted that seeing both the Russians and the U.S. lose in upsets the previous night helped rather then hurt the Canadians as it reminded just how wide open this tournament looks to be.
“Seeing that, it just showed how close games are and we didn’t want to leave it to chance,” Roy said.
“It’s so close we have to make sure we keep building.
“It’s a first win off our back, we’re happy with it. Things we’re going to have to learn to move on. Every team wants to get better. Every team wants to win a gold medal.
It’s no different for us.”
Next up for the Canadians is a Saturday date versus the Czech Republic with a practice day in between to further work on systems and building to be ready for medal round games next week.
Now that the tournament has begun, the story lines can start to shift from who isn’t here to who is and making the best of the opportunity.
“It’s business first,” Roy said. “It’s better like that. Better that you want more. We want to get better every period. That just shows all the character from all the guys.”