Certainly, the Canadians, who have been dominant at recent best-on-best events, winning Olympic gold in 2002, 2010 and 2014 and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, have less to prove.
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Jakub Voracek and Martin Hanzal responded for the Czech Republic. A win by Canada in its game against the United States puts Europe into the semifinals, but don’t expect this sewn-together all-star team to suddenly think it’s not a 33-to-1 shot to win the World Cup.
The speed and skill of Team North America has captured the imagination of fans watching the World Cup of Hockey.
To advance to play this coming weekend in the semifinals, the USA must either beat favoured Canada on Tuesday or hope for a miracle elsewhere in Group A. With only three games of round-robin play, a regulation loss is a significant blow.
What exactly is Team USA coach John Tortorella thinking by saddling Patrick Kane with an agitator such as Justin Abdelkader instead of, say, a scorer such as Max Pacioretty or Zach Parise? “It has to happen (Tuesday) night”. “We’ve got to strike when we get those”. “Guys that play with grit, play hard – but it was just tough to score for us tonight”. This game only needed one.
“Look at all the teams – there’s eight teams in the tournament that are very, very good”. And then, 30 months and and a painful knee injury later, he returned to the global stage Saturday night with a triumphant 6-0 blanking of the Czech Republic in Team Canada’s opening game of the 2016 World Cup. He knows that his players can still pick things up a notch.
In the first game the Czechs started Michal Neuvirth against Canada and he was lit up for six goals. So we’ve got to fix that up, for sure. “We still feel like there was not really enough there, so I think naturally that is where some change is going to come”.
“We’re coming (after Canada), Tortorella said”. Tortorella had no issues with his team’s energy level or effort against Europe, elements that will be ramped up against Canada. They need traffic in front of Canadian goalie Carey Price. “It’s the way we’ve been built”. I can’t wait. It will be a blast playing them.
Heading into the tournament, Team North America – comprised of the best players aged 23 and under from Canada and the United States – was arguably the most intriguing squad in the field.
Despite self-inflicted mistakes from roster construction and lineup decisions to poor execution and ill-timed turnovers, the US credited Europe for putting together a winning recipe. It’s what worked so well against the Czechs in the opener. Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux will sit out again. But even among that All-Star talent, top-line center Sidney Crosby is standing tall and elevating his teammates’ play.
Presented as a collaborative between the league and the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA), the preseason best-on-best worldwide hockey championship event began at a high pace amongst the eight competing teams. Connor McDavid muscled past Pavel Datsyuk along the boards, and the 2015 top pick set up the 2016 top pick with a attractive 2-on-1 feed. “Those guys proved that they can win”. Abdelkader isn’t a linemate anyone expected to play with Kane, but Tortorella thinks the Detroit Red Wings winger has been strong and needs to play more. It will come down to goaltending.
Russian Federation appeared to catch a break before the game even started, when Sweden’s starter Henrik Lundqvist was ruled out of the game because of the flu.
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Edwin Encarnacion hit his 41st homer of the season and Marco Estrada limited the Seattle Mariners to one hit in seven innings as the Toronto Blue Jays downed their hosts 3-2 in Major League Baseball play on Monday. Their Group A was the decidedly easier group, or at least it was until the Americans lost focus against Team Europe. At the other end of the ice, it’s unclear whether Finland will stick with? During practice, it appeared Rask would be the starter.
