“But at this point we had so many nations that we felt it was unnecessary”.
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The two teams had played Friday night in Columbus with the US coming out on top 4-2.
I don’t imagine there is one hockey fan out there that is clamoring for the NHL to get out of the World Cup of Hockey.
The Canada-U.S. rivalry doesn’t have the same history as Canada-Russia, but is arguably more relevant. “Even though it’s exhibition you want to start on the right foot and that’s always our expectation especially when you get a great opportunity to play against one of our rivals back-to-back”. US forward Ryan Kesler could be in trouble after he was given a boarding major and a game misconduct for a hit on Shea Weber in the second period. On the Blue Line they have a tremendous combination of physical play, defensive awareness, and offensive ability in guys like Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, and Brent Burns, just to name a few.
The key Saturday was Canada had success around the net with Tavares scoring twice while Logan Couture, Jay Bouwmeester and Matt Duchene were also able to chip in with goals.
But captain Joe Pavelski cautioned about getting too anxious about Canada and losing focus. He will have to perform as impressively as goalie Mike Richter did when he led the Americans to a gold medal at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
“We knew that they left a little bit at the (Sochi) Olympics and they’re coming back with a vengeance”, defenceman Alex Pietrangelo said Thursday. The teams will also meet in an exhibition Saturday night in Ottawa (ESPN3).
Goaltender Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles) will get the start.
Rasmus Ristolainen and captain Mikko Koivu scored 3:05 apart in the middle period for Finland to cut the Swedish lead to 3-2 after Eriksson netted his two in the opening period and Hornqvist added one in the second.
There was nothing wrong with Canada’s play out of the gate, as they held a 12-1 margin in shots on goal. Derek Stepan scored into an empty net with less than two minutes to play.
For coach John Tortorella, it wasnt about the post-whistle pushing and shoving or the intensity that made the tune-up games feel more like the real thing.
“Obviously we’re pretty familiar with their talent level and what they bring”, USA goaltender Cory Schneider said. In any case, Giroux played on Saturday in Canada’s and skated 14;51 of ice time (including 2:16 on the power play and 34 seconds of penalty killing duty) in Canada’s 5-2 win in the return game. “If we execute our systems, we should have no problem”. The strategy seemed to work as Canada dictated the terms of play with 43 to 25 shots.
The top two teams in this group going into the tournament are Canada and USA.
Canada and the US will meet in the round-robin, and it’s set up so the clubs could meet in the final.
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Before Saturday’s game, Team USA head coach John Tortorella was concerned his team was sloppy in the win Friday night – Canada outshoot the US 43-25 in that game – and wanted to see a more cohesive effort this time around.
