Good night: Take five
The Lead
Why did Canada ever doubt its World Junior Championship team?
Playing at home against an admittedly stingy but not overly-flashy Sweden team, it seemed like there was a general gnashing of teeth and lamenting of horrible events to come. Even the well-respected James Mirtle was seriously downplaying the idea that Canada, the team that struck goals four times in a row, might actually pull this one out.
The underdog? Please.
Canada positively romped to an almost effortless 5-1 victory. The idea that they would do otherwise, having watched most of both team’s games in this tournament, was ridiculous. So, too, was that idea considering how easily the Canadians handled the Swedes in their pre-tournament matchup which featured John Tavares scoring that goal.
I suppose that the fear that perhaps Jacob Markstrom’s remarkable performance in the lead-up to the final spurred some of the fears, as did Dustin Tokarski’s shaky play in Canada’s goal — his giving up five goals to Russia must have still been fresh in everyone’s mind. But all those worries must have been asuaged when Canada capitalized on an early (and not very smart) penalty to Calgary pick Mikael Backlund gave way to a PK Subban goal that was the result of nothing more than good, ol’ fashioned hard work around the net just 38 seconds into the night.
From that point, Canada had to win. Simply couldn’t have failed. The Swedes never stood a chance. And when Canada saw its lead doubled by three-time Team Canada cut Angelo Esposito just over 3:30 later. It was in the bag then, as Markstrom resorted to diving all over the ice in an hilarious attempt to draw penalties (none of which worked) and Sweden began to lose all manner of composure.
The parade to the box continued unabated throughout the game, but the score remained the same until Cody Hodgson extended the Canadian lead to three early in the third period and send Ottawa’s ScotiaBank Place into a joy bordering on apoplexy. Sweden eventually scored on the power play before surrendering a pair of empty net goals, but this was over well before the second period even began.
It was the freakin’ World Juniors championship game. Canada simply doesn’t lose on that stage. Not to a bunch of Swedes that take too many penalties and put too few shots on net, regardless of how good their defense and goaltending is. Any game Canada would have lost, or indeed even come close to losing, would have been similar to the Russia semifinal: an offensive slugfest. Sweden, luckily, opted to go the trench warfare route, hunkered down in their own zone and played the body rather than the puck. Shockingly, the Soft Europeans quickly found this didn’t work against those Good Canadian Boys (these phrases ™ and © Donald Stewart Cherry). They had to throw that game plan out posthaste and stick to what they were doing back when they were actually successful: getting the puck to the net.
But the Swedes were never going to beat Canada. Of course not. Canada had too much of everything EXCEPT “consistent” goaltending. The offense was never a question and the defense proved itself more than equipped to deal with the only-occasional Swedish attack via physicality or finesse. So if Kotarski, who ended up making 39 saves, was the only question mark, one needed only look back at last year’s Memorial Cup, where he posted a 4-0-0 record thanks to a 1.72/.953 line for Spokane, to see how he plays in big-game situations.
So that’s five straight golds for Canada, and that’s not especially surprising. Neither will the sixth in Saskatoon next year.
Elsewhere (more accurately, your two NHL scores)…
New York Rangers 4, Pittsburgh 0
You knew the Penguins were in trouble when freaking Nigel Dawes (of all people!) scored on a power play exactly one minute into the game. And it only got worse from there. Paul Mara (of all people!!) scored another power play goal in the second, and Chris Drury (of all people!!!) added an even strength goal in the third. Scott Gomez (of all people!!!!) added a shorthanded empty netter. The most riveting fact I can reveal about this game is that the fill-in announcer on Versus was more annoying than Doc Emerick, which is a Sisyphusian task.
Edmonton 3, New York Islanders 2
Oh those Islanders. After they went up 2-0 with three seconds to go in the first period I was all like, “Oh yeah another loss for the Oilers what could possibly go wrong in the remaining 40:03?” Well as it happens, they turned back into the Islanders, who are apparently out to ruin my life. Goals by Kyle Brodziak (ugh), Jason Strudwick (ugh!) and Andrew Cogliano (acceptable) won the game for Edmonton. Dwayne Roloson made 25 saves in the win.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Have been reading you here for the past month or so, and love your posts, but I have to disagree about Team Canada. This was a very very losable game (or winnable, I suppose, if you’re Sweden). Canada played flat against the Russians, and if there had been a repeat, the Swedes would have feasted. I think this is an article that’s easy to write after the fact, but the reality is that this game could have gone either way, and everyone watching knew it. That’s what made it so exciting.
January 6th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I’m with Sarah.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
As a neutral observer I can absolutely assure you I entered into watching this game with no doubt in my mind you Canucks would roll at home.