If there is a silver lining to any of this, it’s that USA Hockey now knows what to avoid for future worldwide best-on-bests.
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As you would imagine, Canada are the most well rounded team in this World Cup of Hockey.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Telegin scored 1:19 apart in the second period and Russian Federation beat Finland 3-0 on Thursday to set up a World Cup of Hockey semifinal against Canada – and knock out Team North America.
Despite breezing through the preliminary round, the Canadians don’t feel as though they’ve hit their peak just yet.
But it continues to be the trio of Crosby, Marchand and Patrice Bergeron that opposing teams can’t answer.
“It was close, but not close enough”, Ovechkin said. “But anything can happen sometimes so it was nice to get that, that’s a huge goal”. It’s hard, everybody knew we could beat them.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 42-of-47 shots and nearly single handedly kept his squad in the game at Air Canada Centre. “The tournament is done for us”. The five goals he gave up is hardly an indicator of how great he was. I gave everything I had.
They will need to be better than good, since they are now listed as the +300 underdog to beat the heavily favored Canadians.
There were moments in this World Cup of Hockey semifinal game when it looked like Russian Federation was writing the right script to eliminate powerhouse Team Canada.
“We know how they play because we play in Pittsburgh before in (pre-tournament game)”, Tarasenko said.
Kudos to World Cup organizers for taking a chance and including a collection of players and coaches willing to fully display the offensive skill set of these young men. “They wait for you to make mistakes, and then they create offence from that”.
Crosby’s goal was hockey artwork at its finest.
Aggressively attacking Russia’s defence on the forecheck, the Canadian captain stripped Dmitry Kulikov of the puck just feet from the crease.
It wasn’t easy, but then it never is, when Canada plays Russian Federation in a best-of-best hockey competition – and really, who would want it be?
Finland almost opened the scoring early in the second period when Mikael Granlund beat Bobrovsky glove-side, but rang a shot off the post.
It was not to be for the North Americans, however, as Russian Federation scored three unanswered goals in a relatively routine victory thanks to Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Telegin and Evgeni Malkin. An alert Carey Price covered up … Over that span they’ve outscored opponents a combined 52-15, making the average final score a comfortable 4-1. Through two periods, however, Ovechkin had failed to register a shot attempt …
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The second period started out as pure domination for Canada. Perry played the puck between his legs before lifting it high over Bobrovsky … It was a nice reminder of the soft hands Tavares keeps hidden away with the New York Islanders … Russian Federation was 0-for-8. Canada’s penalty kill, meanwhile, has been a mildly effective 100 per cent. Canada’s goaltending has been strong, the team rolls four strong lines and the defense is tight. Safe bet the tournament ends on Thursday night, right? He stopped 16 of 17 shots in the first frame, continuing his stifling efforts into the second. But he can add to his collection with a win at the World Cup. A few exhibition games? They didn’t do either, and USA Hockey faces plenty of questions about how it will bounce back for the 2018 Olympics. And John Tortorella is unlikely to coach the national team on the big stage again. “I think it’s game over and now we have time to spend with our families and have a family dinner tonight”. The angles we would never see otherwise have been a revelation and bring more appreciation for certain plays (for example, Crosby’s goal) than we would have otherwise.
