Kukla's Korner Hockey
Five Notes In Canada’s Win Over The USA
by Paul on 02/21/14 at 03:40 PM ET
Comments (1)
from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,
Has everyone regained their breath yet? As thrilling as Team USA's shootout win over host Russia was in the preliminary round, that game was a step behind the pace of Friday's sensational semifinal 1-0 victory by Team Canada over its North American rival. Quite the 24 hours for Canada over the U.S., eh? Ouch. What a game, though, at Bolshoy Ice Dome. You wish these two teams could play a best-of-seven.
Five things to know about the game:
1. The pace was outstanding. I mean, if this was the NHL every single night, I would do my job for free. It was breathtaking to see two great, evenly matched powerhouse teams go at each other like that, back and forth with so much speed and precision. For the most part, though, Canada dictated that pace and spent more time in the U.S. zone with an effective cycle and forecheck. It's clear that Canada was thrilled to be getting a chance to play some north-south, North American hockey after playing the likes of Latvia and Finland beforehand, both of those teams sitting back and forming a defensive shell around their goalie. This was Canada's kind of game and it showed in the comfort of its execution. The passes were crisper, the transition game more fluid, the decision-making more natural.
Filed in: Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: sochi+olympics,
team+canada,
team+usa
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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.
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I think the biggest thing I like about Olympic hockey was the lack of commercial breaks in the action, along with a few other things like no stupid trapezoid behind the net, the ice just looked so much “cleaner”.
Posted by silversailer on 02/22/14 at 12:09 AM ET