“None of us from the U.S. team here from head to toe is happy with what’s happened here”, American coach John Tortorella said.
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Can anyone – anyone at all – beat Canada at the World Cup of Hockey this year?
Trouba, who played for North America at the World Cup of Hockey, is a restricted free agent coming off his entry-level contract and hasn’t attempted to negotiate a new deal in recent months, according to Overhardt.
The first World Cup of Hockey semifinal was played between Canada and Russian Federation. We obviously were counting on them to get out of pool play, but they weren’t able to do it. Even with Patrick Kane, Joe Pavelski and Zach Parise on the roster, the Americans failed to generate scoring chances and general manager Dean Lombardi and coach John Tortorella had to answer for why they chose size and physicality at the expense of more skill.
Datsyuk sat out the Russians final preliminary round game against Finland with a lower body injury. The group was four years removed from a seventh-place disaster at the 2006 Games, trying to reclaim gold on home soil in Vancouver.
Any tension quickly evaporated. Getzlaf, for what it’s worth, had three points in just over 10 minutes.
With a 3-0 victory over Finland, Russia qualified to the semifinal round of the World Cup, in which the team leading by Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will meet Sydney Crosby’s Canada on Saturday.
Does it really matter whether it’s Sweden or Europe in the final against Canada? No.
Tarasenko, the St. Louis Blues 24-year-old sniper, led Russian Federation with two goals in the round robin. He had two assists in the first two games.
If sometimes disappointing, Russia’s lineup again inspires fear. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko front a unsafe top line, with Evgeni Malkin, the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov and Blackhawks Calder Trophy victor Artemi Panarin there, too. “Two teams with a great history, it is going to be tough, it is going to be hard playing here in Canada, but it is also going to be fun”.
The focus is squarely on Canada-Russia.
Sweden’s third line of Carl Hagelin, Marcus Kruger and Jakob Silfverberg has been a solid, shutdown unit in this tournament.
Afterward, it was Canada’s poise that was a major talking point among players and coaches. “Every single time I put on this jersey I have confidence that we’re going to win the game”. His five hits didn’t leave much of a mark on the Canadians. And that’s how Babcock would probably prefer it. Tarasenko leads the team in goals, with two. With an 0-3-0 record and a minus-6 goal differential, the US finished seventh among eight teams, ahead of only Finland.
“We had a good chance to succeed here, but you don’t score, you can’t win”, Finnish coach Lauri Marjamaki said.
Canada has evolved into a wrecking ball in big games since that thorough destruction of Russian Federation in 2010. Russian Federation coach Oleg Znarok said in Datsyuk’s case, “age doesn’t matter”.
“It’s just an expectation to win”, forward Logan Couture said of Canada’s ability to perform on the big stage. There was a period where people actually questioned that title when he couldn’t make it back to the Stanley Cup Final since 2009. “I think big games bring out the best of everyone”.
Forward Jonathan Toews said that attitude developed from actual performance in such moments. Team North America didn’t advance to the semifinal round in spite of going 2-1, but in their brief time at the World Cup of Hockey, there wasn’t a more exciting group to watch.
Canada Post has unveiled another set of National Hockey League stamps – and this time Mark Messier is one of those being honoured!
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“When the guys are no longer in the tournament they’ll take some days off and rejoin the guys”, he said.
