Game On: Canada v USA for the chance to go for GOLD

The United States and Canada are once again be facing off at the Olympics only, unlike four years ago, they are not playing for the gold medal, but are playing for the chance to play for gold. Heading into the game the United States is the heavy favourite to win; they have been outscoring their opponents 20-6 and seem to be improving with every game. Team Canada, on the other hand, has only 13 goals so far this tournament, with 7 coming from defencemen Drew Doughty and Shea Weber. The irony of all ironies is that when the United States left Bobby Ryan and Kyle Okposo off their roster, many people, myself included, predicted they would have trouble finding the back of the net, while Canada, even without the hot hands of Steven Stamkos, was expected to be a scoring power house. Phil Kessel has been lighting it up for the United States, and Sidney Crosby, who is currently leading the NHL with 78 points, has been limited to 2 assists in four games.

Unlike the last few years at the IIHF World Juniors, the United States and Canada have been playing in different groups and facing very different goaltenders, so it is hard to really compare their play so far. While the Americans are certainly playing well, they have, at times, faced weaker goalies than the Canadians, skewing the stats in their favour and, in my opinion, the gap between these two teams is not as lopsided as the scores would sometimes have you believing. 

The United States kicked off the tournament against Jaroslav Halak and Slovakia. Heading into the tournament, Halak had a 0.915 save percentage with a 2.26 goals against average for the St. Louis Blues. His percentages in Sochi were not as kind as the United States lit him up for seven goals against. The only other game he played this tournament was a 3-1 loss to heavy underdogs Slovenia. Halak finished the game with a 0.903 save percentage, making 28 saves on 31 shots. While this is not a horrible save percentage, Slovenia is not a strong team and Anze Kopitar is their only NHL player, it is therefore not surprising the Americans lit him up given their firepower and talent. Apparently the larger ice surface did not agree with Halak, or at least not in Sochi. 

The Canadians faced Norway in their tournament opener winning 3-1, after going scoreless for the first 20 minutes. Almost as soon as the game was over the Canadian media started talking the disappointing team Canada victory and the Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby line combination took a heavy beating on twitter. Apparently in Canada it is only a victory if you pummel the opposing team. While I would have enjoyed a knockout gong show, I don’t think anyone gave Norwegian goalie enough credit. Lars Haugen currently plays for HC Dinamo Minsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). This means that not only Haugen is used to playing on the larger ice surface, he has a history of playing quite well. Last season he almost singlehandedly carried Dinamo Minsk to a playoff berth in the KHL, finishing with a 0.933 save percentage in 22 games.  He played in two and a half games this tournament, taking over for goaltender Lars Volden during a 6-1 loss Finland. Excluding the game against Canada, he finished with a 0.871 save percentage while facing off against Russia, Finland and Austria. His numbers are not as good as Halak’s, but he faced more shots and better scoring chances.

I don’t have many comments regarding the second matchup for both teams. The United States faced off against Russia and it was the close back and forth game everyone anticipated. Tied at 2 after 65 minutes, the game went to an 8 round shootout where TJ Oshie showed the world that Jaromir Jagr is not the only one who with “Moves like  Jagger”. Canada then faced Austria winning 6-0 and it was the blowout everyone had been waiting for. They dominated play for almost the entire 60 minutes, taking 46 shots and only allowing 23 against. Jeff Carter was able to redeem himself after being taken off the top line by scoring a natural hat trick, and once again the Canadian defence played an important role scoring the first two goals in the first period.

The United States kept rolling as they pummeled Slovenia 5-1, securing themselves the second spot in the standings and bypassing the qualification round of the tournament. This was the only game for backup goaltender Luca Gracnar who finished the game allowing 5 goals on 28 shots against for a 0.821 save percentage.

In their third and final round robin game, Canada faced Finland and the dreaded Tuukka Rask. It was a tight game with Finland doing an excellent job of shutting down the neutral zone, and Rask was yet again solid in net. He finished with a 0.926 save percentage, allowing only 1 goal during regulation, before giving up the overtime winner to defenceman Drew Doughty. Rask played two in two other games this tournament, the opener against Austria and the quarter final against Russia, finishing with a 0.914 save percentage, if you exclude the round robin game against Canada. With the overtime win, Canada slotted in at the third position, also bypassing the qualification round of the tournament.

In their quarter-final, the United States faced off against the Czech Republic where James van Riemsdyk opened the scoring 99 seconds in. Ondrej Pavelec had been having a solid tournament with a 0.923 save percentage in his first three games, but, unfortunately for the Czechs, his save percentage in the NHL drops significantly in back to back situations, and the game against the United States was no exception. He was pulled from the game after 29 minutes, allowing 4 goals on 12 shots for a tournament low 0.667 save percentage. His replacement, Alexander Salak allowed only 1 goal on 13 shots, finished with a 0.923 save percentage.

The Canadians surprisingly had a much harder time in their quarter-final against Latvia, who had surprised many beating Switzerland 3-1 in the qualifier. The Canadians threw an impressive 57 shots at Latvian goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis who allowed only 2 goals in a 2-1 Canadian victory. Gudleveskis had only played in one other game during the tournament, a 5-3 loss to Sweden where he finished with a 0.833 save percentage, making his play during the Canadian all the more impressive. Canada had excellent scoring opportunities throughout the game; they just couldn’t catch a break against the hot goaltender. This seems to be the story of these Olympics for Canadian forwards, and you would have think, and hope, that eventually the dam breaks, and some of the shots start going in.  

This will be the first matchup for these teams during his Olympics, and what happened four years ago no longer matters. While I doubt it will be as exciting as the Women’s gold medal game yesterday, I am hoping for some good, hard North American style hockey with both teams fighting until the end and leaving it all on the ice. Though I would not oppose a Canadian victory!