|
ПРЕССА
Pressure mounts for Canada
26.12.2005.Spencer, Donna. The Globe and Mail
Winning back-to-back gold medals is no easy task for Canadians at tourney
The last time Canada won back-to-back world junior hockey championships
was in 1996 and 1997, and that ended a run of five in a row.
The 2006 junior men's hockey team has the opportunity to make it two in
a row again after a dominating performance by Canada at the 2005
tournament in Grand Forks, N.D.
But this Canadian team will have to overachieve to win it because the
United States and Russia have more depth of talent. Canada is young and
has one player with previous experience at the world under-20
championship.
"I think the pressure, it's unreal," said defenceman Cam Barker, who is
the lone veteran player. "Everyone wanting us to repeat and us wanting
to repeat, it hasn't happened in a long time in Canada. We're looking
forward to the challenge."
Canada will open defence of its title today against Finland at Pacific
Coliseum in Vancouver. The Canadians and the Finns are in Group A with
the United States, Switzerland and Norway, while Group B contains
Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia and Latvia.
Canada will meet Switzerland on Wednesday and Norway on Thursday and
finish the round robin against the Americans on Saturday in what will
be a pivotal game for Canada. TSN will carry all of Canada's games.
The top three teams in each group will advance to the playoffs, but the
real goal is to finish first because those teams get a bye past the
quarter-final.
Canadian head coach Brent Sutter wasn't thinking that far ahead.
"I might be a stuck record on that, but our only focus right now is to
get ourselves ready for Dec. 26," he said at the end of the team's
selection camp. "We'll worry about the second game when it comes."
The Finns were a young team that had trouble scoring in Grand Forks and
they finished fifth after four consecutive years on the podium.
Finland should do better in the scoring department, as National Hockey
League first-round draft picks Lauri Tukonen (Los Angeles Kings),
Petteri Nokalainen (New York Islanders) and Lauri Korpiskoski (New York
Rangers) are a year older. Goaltender Tuuka Rask is a first-round pick
of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Of all the European teams, Finland plays with the most emotion and also plays the most physical game.
"We have a feeling for how the Finns play," Sutter said. "I saw them
last year and I've had people that have been watching them over there.
You get enough scouting reports on players.
"They play as close to a North American style as you're going to see a European team play."
Canada has Sutter, coaching the junior team for a second year in a row, and home advantage going for it.
The players can feed off the adrenalin of playing before fans who
support this tournament more than those of other countries. They are
playing on the smaller North American ice surface they are accustomed
to in their own leagues, while many of the Europeans play on a larger
ice surface.
The Canadians also avoid the transatlantic flights and jet leg that drain a team's legs at the end of the gruelling tournament.
Sutter won Stanley Cup and Canada Cup titles as an NHL player and
coached the Red Deer Rebels to a Memorial Cup in just the second year
after he bought the club. He is a master at getting the most out of his
players because they respect him and what he has accomplished in his
career.
Sutter doesn't explain his decisions a lot, other than to say it's important to read the situation and then react.
"You've got to go on instincts," he said. "Everything shouldn't be by the book."
He'll want his team to make the defensive side of the game a priority.
The Canadian team doesn't yet have one offensively explosive line, but
demonstrated in an 8-1 exhibition win over Russia last Thursday it is
capable of spreading the scoring around up front.
Michigan freshman Andrew Cogliano and North Dakota forward Jonathan
Toews, 17, proved themselves dynamic players in the pretournament camp,
but scoring by committee must continue.
Justin Pogge's stellar performance against the Russians sealed his
status as Canada's No. 1 goaltender. He came up with some highlight
saves when the Russians beat Canada's defenders.
The Canadian blueline has size and moves the puck well, but the
defencemen have to be savvy with their position play and be careful not
get beaten one-on-one.
The International Ice Hockey Federation has followed the NHL and
Canadian Hockey League in instructing its officials to crack down on
obstruction and hooking at this tournament. IIHF president Rene Fasel
says the world junior tournament will be a test of that decree.
This tournament could see different standards of officiating from game
to game, so special teams will be key to the Canadians' fortunes,
whether it's taking advantage of the power play or killing penalties.
Half of this team is 18 years old and Toews is 17, which means Canada
will have a lot of experience to draw on for the 2007 world junior
championship in Sweden.
But Hockey Canada's director of player personnel, Blair Mackasey, said this team was not put together with next year in mind.
"I don't accept that, the Canadian public wouldn't accept that and
Hockey Canada won't accept that," Mackasey said. "We're Canada. Our
standard is gold, and every tournament we go into, we go into with the
intention of competing for a gold medal."
Первая страничка молодежных чемпионатов мира 2006 года
|
|
Подгруппа А - подробнее
Канада, США, Финляндия, Швейцария, Норвегия |
Подгруппа В - подробнее
Россия, Чехия, Швеция, Словакия, Латвия |
За 7-10 места - подробнее
Швейцария, Словакия, Латвия, Норвегия |
1/4 финала - подробнее
Швеция - Финляндия
США - Чехия
|
1/2 финала - подробнее
Канада - Финляндия
Россия - США |
Финал - подробнее
За 5 место. Швеция - Чехия
За 3 место. Финляндия - США
За 1 место. Канада - Россия |
| Страничка статистики |
Молодежные чемпионаты мира (до 20 лет) 2006 года.
|
|
|
