In the storied annals of Canadian hockey history, the 2014 national team, led brilliantly by Sidney Crosby and Mike Babcock, will doubtless be hailed as one of the greatest to ever leave their country’s shores. It was a remarkable triumph in a tournament where the Canadians didn’t lose a game – they needed an overtime blast from Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty to beat Finland in the final game of the group stage – when many thought that teams from outside North America would be favoured on the bigger ice surface.
Except that someone forgot to tell the Canadians that they weren’t going to do very well on non-NHL ice. Their start to the tournament was admittedly slow, but they did enough in each game to progress, and you got the feeling that this was a big machine slowly warming up and cranking into gear. Even so, there were enough hints that perhaps someone might oust them before the medal round.
Prior to Canada’s semi-final matchup with Team USA, I wondered if the Americans might have had a chance, but Carey Price, a true revelation in net for the Canadiens, put an end to that, with a timely assist from Jamie Benn. The lone goal, to the Dallas Stars captain (a redirection from a gorgeous shot-pass from defenceman Jay Bouwmeester) and a solid defensive performance in front of Price relegated the Americans to the playoff for Bronze and Canada was headed back to an Olympic Gold Medal game.
This night will be remembered for just how comprehensive the Canadians were in notching back-to-back Olympic gold. In six games in Sochi, the Maple Leaf brigade didn’t lose. They didn’t even trail in a game. They allowed a measly three goals – only one in three elimination games, , the quarter final against Latvia, before proceeding to blank Team USA in the Semi Final and Sweden in the Gold Medal Game – and succeeded in shutting down two very prolific offensive hockey teams in their last two games.
Aside from an early stretch of play where the Swedes threatened to score, the team in red and white were by far and away the best on the ice. The way the game went reminded me a lot of the semi-final against Team USA. Remember, the Americans had their chances early, too. Then they faded, though not quite as much as the Swedes did. I suppose that easy path to the final came back to haunt Nicklas Kronwall’s men after all.
Almost from the get-go, Sweden was outmatched. Indeed, it was only the occasional brilliance of New York Rangers net minder Henrik Lundqvist that kept the score from ballooning out even more, though the absence of superstars Henrik Zetterberg, Henrik Sedin and Nicklas Backstrom from the ice on Sunday night certainly changed the way things progressed. Certainly, they would have shown more offensively.
The Canadians were able to cover the loss of John Tavares and Steven Stamkos by just plugging in another big-time NHL superstar, but the Swedes, like most of the rest of the international hockey world, aren’t as easily able to do that. I’d hazard a guess and say that the game would have gone differently for Sweden had they been able to put those guys out on the ice. They might still have lost, but I’m willing to bet it would’ve been a much closer game.
Medal Night in Sochi will also be remembered as the night when Sidney Crosby broke his scoring drought. His lone goal of the tournament was a thing of beauty, coming on a breakaway, with a sick move, and an open shot into Henrik Lundqvist’s goal, the Swedish keeper sprawled on the ice, powerless to stop Crosby. It was 2-0 at that point, after Jonathan Toews scored a first period goal, yet the way the Swedish offense was being routinely shut down, it might as well have been 5-0. No way on this earth where the Swedes coming back from this deficit.
In the third period, as though to put an emphatic exclamation mark on a superb performance, Chris Kunitz, the subject of much derision throughout, scored the final goal of the game. It was a nice moment for a guy many thought arrived here simply because he’d shown some chemistry with Crosby back in Pittsburgh. Scoring that goal must’ve been a moment for Kunitz to tell himself that he belonged. And he does. Don’t forget, the guy won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim before being traded to Pittsburgh. He isn’t some two-bit hack.
The 3-0 triumph will also be remembered as the one where Carey Price really came of age. As a goalie in Montreal, where there is so much expected of the Canadiens due to their franchise’s enviable and rich history, Price has had his style picked apart by so many different critics, yet he’s kept plugging away doggedly and persistently, and the reward is Olympic Gold, coming after playing so well in every game he’s started. Hopefully, this will – and should – be the end of all the talk about how Price can’t win the big games. Because, you know, he absolutely can.
Historically, this is a giant moment for Canada. They’ve won three of the five gold medals since the NHL started participating in the Olympics, but until now, both triumphs came on North American soil. They beat Team USA twice, eight years apart, first in Salt Lake City, Utah and then in Vancouver, British Columbia. Perhaps the knock on Canada was that they hadn’t won an Olympic tournament with NHL players on the big international ice. Well, you can tick that one off the list, too.
No matter which way you look at it, the best team won in Sochi, and Team Canada deserves all the accolades surely coming their way over the next few days and weeks. The ability for Mike Babcock and his coaching staff to bring together a team of players used to being top dog at their respective NHL franchises and turn them into a cohesive unit in such a short period of time is nothing short of a miracle. In goal, defensively and up front, Canada were supreme, thanks to the management of Babcock. There should be no doubt that he is the best coach in the NHL.
Congratulations, Canada! Let’s hope that this isn’t the end of NHL participation at the Winter Olympics!
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