Lundqvist is 34 and the Sedins are 35. “We just didn’t find a way to win the hockey game”.
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“Talking with guys on (the U.S.) team and guys that I’ve come across, (they know) just how good he is with the puck and his takeaways”, former Red Wings teammate Justin Abdelkader said. “It might be our last one”.
Canada will play its old Cold War rival, Russia, in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final, with the victor advancing to the best-of-three final starting next Tuesday.
The Swedes will be without forward Mikael Backlund because of a concussion. He also took two minor penalties. That’s certainly not a memory that USA Hockey had any interest in dredging up as the NHL and NHLPA look to grow the World Cup of Hockey into a regular tournament played every few years. The Los Angeles Kings GM has seen his team come back from a 3-0 playoff deficit but described the locker room after losing to Europe as tight, and the US was never able to adequately respond. “He wants to play well, he wants to be a difference-maker on the big stage”.
“It’s a developmental program, but I think we’ve got a lot of competitive people and we all want to win”, Hughes said. “And, he’ll make that save when you need it”.
Sweden lost to Canada in the final at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, winding up with the silver medal despite injuries to Henrik Sedin, Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.
“That was pretty special, I’ve waited a long time”, he said. “I hope there will be another World Cup soon so we will be a lot better”. The 2013 Vezina Trophy recipient wasn’t overly tested the rest of the way. This underlying theme could account for the many recent short comings of the nation, tracking all the way back to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver – where Canada obliterated Russian Federation 7-3 in the quarter-finals.
“But we didn’t score, just like Tuesday (a 2-0 loss to Sweden)”.
Superior in-their-prime talent is one reason for Canada’s success. “He’s really established himself as a world-class goaltender”.
The evaluation of the development players, the under-17 year olds and under-18 year old players recruited around the country from among the premier players in their age groups, begins in earnest this weekend. “And their goalie was good”.
In their second year, the results on the scoreboard are naturally a bit more critical.
“My life is very different”, said Lundqvist, who has been married since 2011 and has two young daughters. “I think that our game allows emotion, competitiveness, caring about each other (to) close that gap more than any other sport”. “I don’t like surprises”.
“You have to work a lot. They”re great players and great guys. The Sedins hold significant roles, bigger than in 2006 when they were complementary pieces. Expect that line to match up against Europe’s top unit of Marian Hossa, Anze Kopitar and Tomas Tatar. If there’s any way the young guns can take that brand of hockey to the Maple Leafs and Avalanche and Sabres and Oilers and take their new fans with them, then it will be the ultimate victory for Team North America and the NHL.
But know this, however poorly this team played, these are players who took time off this summer to train for the tournament, took time away from families and vacations to attend training camp, and traveled hither and yon for pretournament games. Lundqvist occasionally has moments when he reflects on the best decade in Swedish hockey history.
Months after deciding to leave the NHL and go home to Russian Federation, the Detroit Red Wings great showed off his fanciful skillset one last time on this side of the ocean at the World Cup of Hockey.
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“If anybody has been watching us, you’d have to be underneath a rock for the last three weeks to [believe] that we didn’t play all out the whole time”, McLellan said. We could not out-skill them, and I have to be honest about that. “Hopefully, we can top it here”.
