Canada’s road to gold unfolding perfectly
World junior quarter-finals: Danes are over-matched but plucky
The quarter-finals at the World Junior Hockey Championships include a Cold War matchup (U.S.-Russia), a rematch of last year’s goldmedal game between neighbouring rivals (Sweden-Finland) and a clash between two countries that used to be one (Czech Republic-Slovakia).
And also Canada against Denmark. There was that time we had that spat with them over Hans Island, I guess. To the barricades!
Canadian head coach Benoit Groulx offered all sorts of niceties about the surprising Danes on Wednesday night after his team dispatched the United States 5-3 in a thriller that required two empty-net goals to seal victory.
Every game is a difficult game at this tournament, Groulx said. These are the best young players in the world, Groulx said.
Sure, but precious few of them were born in Denmark. There is Oliver Bjorkstrand, the third-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets who plays for the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL and has four goals in this tournament. There is Georg Sorensen, the goaltender with not much of a resume, but who has kept his team in games in the way that small European nations occasionally find a goalie to perform feats of wonder against much stronger opponents.
There are a handful of other Danes who play in the CHL. The team will at least be scrappy.
But for all of Groulx’s concessions about how each game here presents its own challenge, the coach is as likely to gain the power of flight as he is to face a serious test with Denmark.
How different are these two countries in a hockey sense? Their best-known previous meeting was in the 1949 world championship, where Canada squeaked out a 4-0 victory. To be fair to the Danes, they only gave up 43 goals in their other four games combined in that tournament. And scored four. Also, that team didn’t even have a coach, but the IIHF says they “travelled with three team leaders,” which if nothing else should be a warning to the New Jersey Devils.
In the world juniors, this year is only the third time Denmark has played in the top tier. In the earlier two appearances, it finished in last place and was relegated. In 2012, the team was outscored 44-10. According to the IIHF, there are 25 hockey rinks in the whole of Denmark. There are more than 7,600 in Canada.
Yes, the Danes took Russia and the Czechs to shootout losses and won their first game in the tournament’s top flight in a shootout over Switzerland on Tuesday, but of the 10 teams in the tournament this is the dream quarter-final matchup for Canada. Really, the whole thing is setting up in a way the host country would only have wished for.
Canada has Denmark on Friday night in Toronto, then would play the winner between the Czechs and Slovaks in the semifinals on Sunday. Meanwhile, one of the United States and Russia will knock each other off, as will one of Sweden and Finland. Finally, each of those winners will have to play the other in the semifinals. Put another way, Canada would only have to play one of Sweden, Finland, the United States and Russia — and only once, in the gold-medal final.
All of that would be promising enough for the Canadians, who have the added bonus of playing spectacularly well in the tournament so far.
The top line of Max Domi, Sam Reinhart and Anthony Duclair has been a buzz saw, with Reinhart leading the tournament with eight points, Domi a point behind, and Duclair chipping in four points and a truckload of nasty.
Connor McDavid has been comparatively quiet on the second line with four points, but the 17-year-old has shown flashes of the speed and skill that make him the expected top pick in the upcoming NHL draft.
A shift against the U.S. on Wednesday was typical of the way his tournament has gone. He grabbed the puck just before the U.S. zone, spotted a gap between two defencemen and just whooshed past them with acceleration that looked effortless.
“I’m not even going to try to do what he does,” Curtis Lazar, one of McDavid’s wingers, said after the win over the Americans. He said sometimes he realizes that McDavid is off like a rocket, and he has to try to chase the play down. “That’s when I realize I have to jump on my horse,” he said. Lazar, keep in mind, came to this tournament from the NHL.
Meanwhile, the Canadian blue-line has been fast and efficient. Madison Bowey broke up a key odd-man rush in the U.S. game and Josh Morrissey scored Canada’s second goal with a blast from the point on the power play. The top pair of Darnell Nurse and Shea Theodore smothered Jack Eichel’s top U.S. line, holding them to one goal, which was on the power play.
Good luck with that, Oliver Bjorkstrand.