Europe gets past Czech Republic

The Canada Cup featured select squads from Canada, the United States, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Finland.

There will likely be no better example of the impact of the ice size than Team Canada in this World Cup of Hockey, the intention pretty clear from Saturday’s 6-0 win over the Czech Republic – a more aggressive forecheck than we ever saw in Sochi.

One game into the World Cup of Hockey, the United States is on the verge of elimination.

“Let’s not get carried away”, said coach Mike Babcock, asked if Crosby had gotten better from earlier Team Canada performances, specifically the past two Olympics.

“We had some chances on the power play, had some good looks, but we still want to create more”. Slovakia’s Jaroslav Halak made all the saves in goal while on the wrong side of a 35-17 shot differential, but Europe helped limit the quality scoring chances to nearly none. Marian Gaborik, Leon Draisaitl and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored on USA goaltender Jonathan Quick, who made 14 saves. Although they were flawless on the kill, taking six minor penalties is a recipe for disaster against teams with more firepower. Defenceman Ryan McDonagh made an ill-advised pinch to set up a 2-on-1 rush that became Gaborik’s goal, and Hart Trophy victor Patrick Kane turned the puck over to give Europe a 2-on-0 rush that became Draisaitl’s first goal of the tournament. After some initial takeaways, here are some reasons why you should make it a point to tune in, as well as what to watch for. San Jose’s Canadian contingent had its expected impact with Brent Burns registering an assist on the second goal and Joe Thornton netting the fourth. That’s a play that I’ve made a million times in my career.

Gifted a 2-on-0 rush by Patrick Kane on an “unacceptable” turnover, Germany’s Leon Draisaitl and Switzerland’s Nino Niederreiter looked like they had been playing together for years. “That’s unacceptable from me”.

The math here is simple: Thanks to the tiebreaker system, if the USA loses to Team Canada in regulation on Tuesday, T, J, Oshie and his American teammates would be on the verge of elimination from playoff contention in the tournament. The Yanks want to get the puck in deep, get in their opponents’ faces, grind and go to work from there. “[There are] guys that want to really relish this moment, because it could be really the last time we get that opportunity to win one of these global tournaments”.

This U.S. team was built to be physical and tough to play against, and everyone knew the goals would have to be manufactured.

The question to be answered now is how will Team USA respond? The result didn’t prove that out, and the top offensive players accepted responsibility for not being sharp enough. With Europes overtime win against the Czech Republic on Monday, the USA must beat Canada.

You would think the US will require some luck as well.

“It took me a second to get up”, Couture said.

“I think Abby gives us forecheck, and he holds onto the puck more than some of the other guys”, Tortorella said. “A big win for us”.

The speed and skill of Team North America has captured the imagination of fans watching the World Cup of Hockey. We are going to play the game the right way.

“This is either you are afraid of it or it’s just a fantastic opportunity we have in front of us Tuesday”, the coach said. We have to be ready for anything that comes our way – adversity, success, power plays, penalty kills, leads, deficits – and make sure we have the response at the right moment to bring to the game.

“I didn’t produce anything last game, and that’s my job on the team, to produce offense and scoring chances (and) try to help put goals on the board”, he said. But the most important thing for us is to score.