Gritty win advances Canada into semifinals
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA — The Olympics men’s hockey tournament is an NHL-free zone for the first time since 1994. But there was NHL chatter late Wednesday night here in the mixed zone, where players meet with the media after games. Canadian captain Chris Kelly raised an impressed eyebrow at a mention of one of his former NHL employers, the Boston Bruins, second in the league standings as he spoke.
“They did the right thing,” Kelly said of the Bruins. “They got rid of some bums and brought in some young guys.”
This was clearly a bit of self-deprecating humour. Kelly, after all, played parts of six seasons in Boston until 2016, when the Bruins let him walk to Ottawa as a 35-year-old free agent. He was describing himself as one of those “bums.” He seemed happy for the Bruins. No hard feelings. On to the next one.
That’s no doubt part of the reason why Kelly is Canada’s captain here. He’s a veteran guy who’s gotten over himself. He’s more apt to sacrifice for the greater good. And self-sacrifice is a key ingredient to winning hockey.
It certainly was a big piece of Canada’s 1-0 quarter-final win over Finland on Wednesday, a victory that ensured the Canadians will at least play for a medal at these Games. Should they beat Germany — a surprise 4-3 overtime winner over Sweden — in a Friday semifinal, they’ll be playing for gold. The Russians and Czechs meet in the other semi.
“It’s the chance of a lifetime,” said Kevin Poulin, the Canadian backup goaltender who was called on in relief a few minutes into the second period after starter Ben Scrivens left the game with an upper-body injury and didn’t return. “Coming into the Olympics we had one goal, and it’s the gold.”
Getting past Finland was no easy evening. The Finns played a neutralzone trap that wasn’t easy to bust through. Canada’s only goal came off a faceoff in the Finnish zone won cleanly by Eric O’Dell to set up defenceman Maxim Noreau’s bomb of a slapshot.
Finland succeeded in applying some serious late-game pressure, and that’s when we finally saw the grit we’d been waiting to see from the men in the national maple leaf. Key shots were blocked. Key pucks were cleared. Almost every rebound was disposed of without real drama. So the Finns had pressure, but they didn’t have point-blank chances.
“Personally, I felt that was our best effort collectively as a group. We made them work for everything,” Kelly said. “It’s not going to be highscoring games moving forward ... The smiles on the faces after a hardfought 1-0 win — you can tell how good we felt.”
Canadian centre Derek Roy said he was so wrapped up in the defensivezone struggle at the end that he didn’t even hear the horn sound.
“We were still battling in front of the net, and slashing guys, and doing whatever it takes to keep the puck out of the net. Once I saw guys coming off the bench, it was a relief,” Roy said. “They threw everything at us, and we were sacrificing bodies to keep the puck out of the net ... Guys were literally jumping in front of pucks with their face,”
Like, really — Roy saw a teammate block a shot with his face?
“Not really. But we were diving everywhere,” Roy said, smiling.
Hey, there’s always the next game. Save for Canada’s 4-0 win over the host team, when Gangneung Hockey Centre was enlivened by Korean fans who passionately shrieked every time their team so much as crossed the offensive blue line, the crowds at the Olympic tournament have been underwhelming. And though Wednesday’s stakes were considerable, the atmosphere was beyond dull. Entire sections were left gapingly empty all game.
So conjuring Game 7-style urgency without the Game 7-level decibel counts — well, it probably wasn’t easy. The first period, hockey played in morgue-like quietude, was a dud, with Finland outshooting Canada by the grand total of 5-4. But Canada picked it up in the second, outshooting their opponents 18-10 and commanding the bulk of possession.
Maybe the key to the game was the play of Canada’s fourth line of O’Dell, Maxim Lapierre and Ron Klinkhammer, which was matched up frequently with what had been the highest-scoring line in the tournament, featuring 18-year-old Predators first-rounder Eeli Tolvanen.
Tolvanen had three goals and six assists in four games prior to Wednesday. Thanks largely to O’Dell’s trio — not to mention O’Dell’s 82 per cent faceoff win rate — Tolvanen managed just two shots on goal.
“You’re not going to win ’em all pretty. You’re not going to five-nothing your way to the finals,” Roy said. “And we knew that. It’s one of those games you’ve got to keep grinding ... Just to go and know we’re playing for a medal, it’s a great feeling.”