By all accounts, the Canadian players are feeling pretty good about themselves before opening the World Cup Saturday night against the Czech Republic in Toronto.
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John Tortorella and Mike Babcock, the respective head coaches for the United States of America and Canada, both had to be happy to get this game out of the way without losing any players to injury, although Babcock didn’t have an immediate update on Claude Giroux, who left the game in the late stages. “It’s inflicting, not being inflicted upon. But we have to eventually make a decision who’s going to start”. However, as a lifelong hockey fan, I also remember the World Cup of Hockey tournament (formerly known as the Canada Cup) which was a very popular global tournament that began in 1976 and happened every three to five years after that until 1996, when it took an eight-year hiatus until 2004. It’s not often you see players like Giroux and Sidney Crosby playing together as teammates and working together.
The inclusion of these two groups allows the NHL/NHLPA to showcase the game’s best young talent and European stars like Anze Kopitar, the two-time Stanley Cup-winning Los Angeles Kings centre whose Slovenia would not have qualified for a tournament like this. He’s expected to play two periods before giving way to Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay) for the third. Canada simply pumps out too many talented hockey players, and in various aspects of the game.
But the United States has loaded up with two-way, heavy checking forwards, players who can score and skate but are also hard to play against.
Obviously were pretty familiar with their talent level and what they bring, USA goaltender Cory Schneider said. I know how he can play.
Many avid hockey fans in the area are probably counting down the days until the upcoming Bruins season.
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. Johnson and van Riemsdyk will both dress on Saturday in Ottawa, he said, and they’ll continue to use the exhibition season to see if lineups and line pairings click. He has already got under the skin of Team Canada, and the tournament hasn’t started yet. “We’re going to try to be very fair in these three games so they make these decisions for us”. You can’t. You’ve got to get guys into situations where you think they’re going to produce for you.
“All the top players, even you look at Canada’s team, your minutes are going to be down. I think Buff is a bit of a beast and you want to know he’s out there”. That’s the way it is. First, John Tavares hit Kesler the first time they got near each other and then Joe Thornton caught him with a late hit in the first to nullify a Canadian power play.
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“I don’t think it’s any different just because were not from one nation”, Krueger said.
