King on WJHC: Pride on the line
Posted December 31, 2011 11:36 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON, Alta. — The game means nothing in the standings, but everything to the heart.
Team Canada and Team U.S.A. will make their highly-anticipated meeting under different circumstances than anyone could have predicted. Canada (3-0) is already through to the semifinal as winners of Group B while the Americans (1-2) missed the cut for the medals and will be playing in the relegation round.
The history of the Canada-U.S. rivalry dictates the game will be far from meaningless for the players involved.
“One word: pride,” explained U.S. head coach Dean Blais when asked how his team will approach the otherwise meaningless affair. “Emotionally, it’s not going to be easy, of course, when you know that no matter how you play, you’re not going to get a chance to win a medal and that’s why we’re here.”
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“They’re still our rival,” American team captain Jason Zucker said. “We still want to beat them. We still don’t like them, they still don’t like us. That’s not going to be a hard game to get up for no matter what.”
Zucker went so far as to predict victory, saying, “We’re going to beat them.”
This coming moments after his team lost 5-2 to the Czech Republic, the same game that dashed any hopes of the Americans playing for a medal.
“Canada wants to beat the U.S. and the U.S. wants to beat Canada,” Canadian captain Jaden Schwartz said. “The atmosphere’s going to be great and the two teams always want to beat each other, so I’m sure it’s going to be the same no matter what the situation is.”
Can Team Canada’s defence continue to provide offence?
One of the major storylines in Canada’s success is the play of the defencemen. Many scratched their heads when the supremely-gifted, offensive stud Ryan Murphy was left off the team in favour of a group that takes care of its own end first.
The stay-at-home Scott Harrington picked up four points in Canada’s 10-2 win over Denmark on Thursday, the first time he reached the score sheet four times in any junior game. Brandon Gormley also chipped in with five points in three games so far.
“It’s always good to chip in,” Gormley said. “We got a great blue-line there. Guys have done a great job defending so far. It’s nice to help out the forwards and chip in offensively.”
Only Jamie Oleksiak and Mark Pysyk have yet to pick up a point among Canada’s seven-man defensive core.
Can the Americans’ speed be neutralized by Canada?
One constant from Team U.S.A. over the years is their ability to transition and use their speed to their advantage. The forwards’ ability to skate past a slower Canadian defence was one of the reasons they captured gold in Saskatoon two years ago.
“We see ourselves as a fast team as well,” Schwartz said. “We play physical, we like to use our speed and we’re going to have to no matter who we’re playing. We know the U.S. always has a fast team and we have to make sure we match that and play physical and play our game.”
Last year’s Canadian team was built with fleet-footed defencemen in mind, similarly to how it was this year. None of the seven defencemen would be considered pylons and should be able to take away the Americans’ ability to go wide and cut in with their speed.
Will the atmosphere get Canadian players off their game?
The desire to please the crowd by making a big check or by scoring a goal will be there as added motivation for the Canadian players. The potential pitfall to avoid is in the temptation such plays could make in a risk/reward situation.
“It obviously benefits us in a bigger way than anybody else,” forward Quinton Howden said. “Any time we make a big play or something like that, we got the crowd behind us so their support helps us and we try to give them something to cheer about.”
“We want to get (the crowd) involved,” added forward Brendan Gallagher. “We want to play physical and get them involved in the games. At the same time, you can’t go out of your comfort zone. You have to continue to do things that have made us successful so far, but playing a physical game is something we really need to do.”
The Americans claim to use the anti-U.S. crowd as a motivational tool.
“You get used to that,” Blais said. “When Calgary (Flames) comes in here, they don’t cheer for Calgary so you know it’s the same thing we know that we’re facing. We know we’re going to face some hostile crowds.”
Can the Americans bounce back?
All their players said the right things after losing to the Czechs. But actions speak louder than words and the only proper way of judging the Americans’ resolve is by their performance in an otherwise meaningless game.
Missing out on the medal round is an embarrassing fate for a country that reached the podium in each of the last two tournaments. They followed up their gold in Saskatoon with a bronze on home ice in Buffalo last year, but won’t even have a sniff this time around.
“Nothing I hate more than losing,” Zucker said. “We lost two games in a row when I thought we were good enough to win.”
Zucker was confident his team would beat their undefeated rivals. His head coach is certainly happy to hear at least one player in the locker room was breathing fire.
“You have no chance if you don’t believe it,” Blais said. “My job is to convince the other 22 players we have a chance. It should be a goal.”
