Canadians hit clash with clean sheet
Gold-medal loss to U.S. backdrop for outdoor battle but old news, coach says
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.— Canadian coach Dominique Ducharme said he has watched last year’s world junior gold-medal game against the United States a few times.
“I watch part of it,” said Ducharme. “I just pause it and stop it when I get to the shootout.”
Canada, of course, lost to the Americans in Montreal in a shootout. The two face each other again Friday in an outdoor game at New Era Field, but the coach says last year’s result won’t be on anybody’s mind.
“It’s a different tournament, a different team,” said Ducharme. “We know we’re rivals, and the rivalry is intense. We know it’s going to be a tight game. They’re always tight. We expect the same. Last year was a tight game, a shootout game.”
LET IT SNOW: Canadian goalie Carter Hart saw the highlights of the Buffalo Bills playing the Indianapolis Colts at snow-covered New Era Field a few weeks ago. “It would be cool to have some snow fall, like in the old days when you were a kid,” said Hart. “But watching those highlights, I was thinking: Holy cow, what if that happens to us? That would be crazy. They’d probably have to do TV timeouts every two or three minutes to scrape the ice.” FULL STRENGTH: It was a full Canadian squad that took to the ice for a brief practice Thursday, to get a feel for the outdoor ice and its surroundings. That’s good news, because the blue line was starting to look thin: Kyle Clague was day-to-day with a foot injury; Jake Bean took a hard, awkward fall Wednesday against Slovakia; and Dante Fabbro, who has been battling a variety of ailments, had his minutes limited. Clague remains day-to-day, or “a confident question mark” as Ducharme put it. Bean and Fabbro both said they were fine. “I’m good,” said Bean. “It looked a little bit worse than what it was. Felt good to get back in the game. I got winded. Once it wore off, I got back to normal.” BALANCING ACT: Canada got 10 goals from seven different players in winning the first two games of the preliminary round. The spread-out offence appears to be a hallmark of the team. “We’ve looked really good,” said Hart. “Our offence is really clicking. Our defence is doing a really good job. When we’re healthy, we’re solid in both ends. We’re pretty bal- anced in both ends of the rink.”
STARTING WITH SID: It’s been 10 years since the Pittsburgh Penguins played the Buffalo Sabres in the first NHL Winter Classic here, when it was called Ralph Wilson Stadium. Sidney Crosby scored in a shootout on a snowy day and the phenomenon of outdoor hockey grew. “I just re- member their baby blue jerseys, that’s the biggest thing that stuck out to me,” said Hart. “After that, everybody bought a baby blue Sidney Crosby jersey. To this day, you see it everywhere.”
ICY CALM: Ducharme didn’t sound pleased with the ice conditions on the outdoor rink. “It was chippy. They’ve still got some work today,” Ducharme said Thursday. “But it’s cold and they still have time to work on it.” He said he would have given the team Thursday off rather than practice if Friday’s game had not been the big outdoor showcase. “We went on the ice only 20, 25 minutes so the guys can feel the environment, feel the ice, so the guys can feel the difference,” he said. “At least they’ve felt the stadium. But whether there are 18,000 fans or 40,000 fans, our guys are mature enough to understand the meaning of the game. It’s our job to stay in the moment and play that game.”
INSIDE OUT: The distractions for Team Canada will be many in an outdoor game against their biggest rival. But the game plan remains clear, said Ducharme. “The main goal every time you wear a jersey is to win, but this is the preliminary round. For sure we want to win, but we want to keep improving. We got better from game one to two. It’s a different environment. There are things we can do better. That’s our challenge. If we do that and stick to our process, we’re confident the result will be on our side. It’s not do-ordie. We know it’s an important game, but we must focus on ourselves.”