Canada, USA Go for Gold
By Judd Hall
Sports are great just as themselves, but what makes people truly get behind them are the rivalries. College football has Ohio State vs. Michigan. The NFL has the Packers vs. the Bears. The Yankees and Red Sox are also known for hating each other. In Olympic hockey, the latest rivalry is between border nations Canada and the United States. And for the second time in three Winter Games, they’ll decide which national anthem is played at Canada Hockey Place in the Gold Medal Game.
We’ve heard the talking heads call this game a sequel to 1980’s “Miracle on Ice,” but there’s a problem with that idea. Last time I checked, the US team in Lake Placid was a bunch of college kids going up against a lot of pro-quality players from the Soviet Union. Every player on the ice this Sunday is earning a paycheck in the NHL. It’s kind of hard to have that same type of sentimentality towards the Stars and Stripes that we had back then, but there is reason to hype them up.
The first thing that most experts believed about Team USA was that they had the talent, but were too young to handle the pressure in Vancouver. After all, most of this team is 30 years old or younger.
All the Americans have done is post the most goals is group play. Plus, they’re the only team in the tournament to have yet to suffer defeat or trail in a game.
Despite being so young, Team USA’s offense has been led by its oldest player. Brian Rafalski, the 36-year-old defenseman for the Red Wings, has scored four goals during this tourney. Add in the four assists that he’s picked up and Rafalski is the scoring leader in this tourney with eight points.
In the United States’ 6-1 drumming of Finland, youth was finally served. Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks recorded his first two goals of the Olympics. Meanwhile, Ryan Miller of the Sabres stopped all 18 shots that he faced from the Finns. Miller has been dominant all tournament long, allowing just five goals and boasting a .953 save percentage, which leads all netminders in the Olympics.
Canada comes into this game knowing the hopes of a nation are on its shoulders. The host team has the best talent of any of the 12 teams in the tourney. Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton and Eric Staal are just a few of the stars on Team Canada. So you can see how the Canadians can throw everything at the opposition. The biggest contributor on the Canadians on the attack has been San Jose’s Dany Heatley, who has lit the lamp four times and helped on three other scores.
Roberto Luongo is expected to be back in net for this game and for good reason. Luongo has surrendered just four goals in his four starts. The lone match he didn’t play in was the Group A finale against the United States, where Martin Brodeur looked old in giving up four goals on 22 shots.
What could give some fans of the Great White North concern is that Luongo almost single-handedly choked away a 3-0 lead against Slovakia in the semifinals. He gave up goals to Lubomir Visnovsky and Michal Handzus in the final nine minutes of regulation. And Pavol Demitra came damn close to putting home the equalizer in the closing seconds of the third. That performance at the end has to make fans apprehensive.
Betting outlets aren’t concerned with what happened on Friday night though. Sportsbook.com has posted Canada as a heavy $2.10 favorite (risk $210 to win $100) with a total of 5 ½. Gamblers looking to take the Americans can expect a healthy return of plus-175 (risk $100 to win $175).
For the Canadians to win the gold, they’ll need to rewrite history. In 22 Olympic tournaments, only two times have the host nation went on to become champions. That was the United States, who captured gold at Squaw Valley in 1960 and Lake Placid in 1980.
Before you start throwing your money on Team USA so you can make it rain VH1 reality show reject, there is one more stat to think about. The Olympics adopted the Gold Medal/Bronze Medal Games in 1992. There have been three times where the Gold Medal Game participants faced off in group play. The team that won that round-robin matchup lost in two of those three affairs. The Unified Team/Russia in 1992 were the only one to win both the group play and the big game itself.
Fearless Selection Time: This is the game that majority of people wanted to see. The United States came out swinging in the first game against the Canadians. That offensive speed caught Canada off guard, resulting in a USA goal in the first minute of play.
Canada has steamrolled Germany and Russia since that game. They also had a comfortable lead against the Slovaks before Luongo decided to get lazy. This Canadian side looks sharp for this contest and will no doubt throw up as many shots as they did against Miller in the first meeting.
Patriotism has me rooting for the Red, White and Blue. However, the gambler in me sees Canada winning a close contest. They’ll catch an empty-netter to blow the roof off of Canada Hockey Place.
My play: Canada on the puck line (-1, +110)
vegasinsider.com
Game Of The Day: USA vs. Canada
By ARI BAUM-COHEN |
United States (+160) vs. Canada (-210, 5.5)
Golden road
After receiving a bye to the quarterfinals, the Americans snuck by the Swiss 2-0 before blowing out the Finns.
"I've never been part of something like that in my career," Finnish forward Teemu Selanne, told reporters after the game. "I was shocked. We had no chance."
Team Canada handled Germany and Russia with ease in the elimination rounds. They almost lost a 3-0 third-period lead to Slovakia and needed a highlight reel save by goaltender Roberto Luongo to ice the game.
What were the odds?
Before the Olympics started, oddsmakers had Canada as the clear favorite to win gold at +118.
The United States, at +994, had the fourth best chance to win gold, behind Russia (+275) and Sweden (+691).
Team USA General Manager Brian Burke has been playing up the Americans’ role as underdogs.
"If you went to Vegas before this tournament, there isn't going to be a penny bet on us,” Burke said during an Olympic conference call.
Rivalry’s roots
According to Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail, the Canada-USA rivalry can be traced back to a 1991 Canada Cup (now World Cup of Hockey) game. American defenseman Gary Suter threw a check on Wayne Gretzky that knocked “the great one” out of the tournament.
The next significant event in the teams’ rivalry was the 1996 World Cup, when the United States upset Canada in the finals.
"That's where the rivalry found its legs," Team USA general manager Brian Burke told the Globe and Mail.
The next chapter in the rivalry was the 2002 Olympics, where Canada defeated the United States to win gold in Salt Lake City.
Fore-check and seven days ago
When the Americans defeated the Canadians 5-3 last Sunday, Team USA was able to execute their gameplan.
“What you’re seeing with most U.S. teams now is we want to fore-check and pressure the puck,” Team USA coach Ron Wilson told reporters. “You can only really do that if you’ve got a fast team.”
Canada dominated at times but could not recover from soft goals allowed by Martin Brodeur. Since that loss, they have looked like a different team. Roberto Luongo is the starting goaltender, lines have been revamped and the Canadians have outscored opponents 18-7.
Moving forward
Zach Parise has been the Americans’ best forward and leads all American forwards with seven points.
Another player team Canada should be concerned about is Patrick Kane. Kane, one of the most offensively talented players on Team USA’s roster, was in a slump before scoring two goals in 2:23 against the Finns.
Team Canada has finally found line combinations that are working. The line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Brendan Morrow was their best line Friday. The Canadians are getting contributions from the entire team – except Sidney Crosby.
Crosby has not registered a point in his last two games.
Team Canada will likely use the line of Mike Richards, Rick Nash, and Jonathan Toews to shut down the Americans’ top line of Zach Parise, Paul Stastny and Jamie Langenbrunner.
Are they saying Lu or boo?
Roberto Luongo has been average since taking over for Martin Brodeur. He was able to bail out his team with a great save in the dying moments, after allowing a soft goal to let the Slovaks back into the game.
Win or lose, Ryan Miller will be named the top goaltender of the tournament. The American netminder has a tiny 1.20 goals against average and .948 save percentage.
With goals at a premium, special teams may play an important role in deciding the winner. Both teams have been above average on the power play (Canada 29.1 percent, USA 28.6 percent), but the Canadians are killing penalties at a rate of 88.2 percent while the Americans have allowed three of their six goals when down a man (76.9 percent).
Regardless of who wins, Sunday’s contest will likely be the most watched hockey game of all time.