On Tuesday night, the Canadian opened their Olympic schedule with a resounding 8-0 win over the Norwegians in front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd at Vancouver’s Hockey Place. Last night, with the upstart Swiss on the opposing bench, Canada was lucky to come away with the win. Jonas Hiller made 45 saves and held the star-studded Canadian offense to only 2 goals over 65 minutes of play, succumbing only to Sidney Crosby’s 2nd shootout attempt that gave Canada the win and the crucial 2 points in the standings.
Tuesday, the Canadians started out slow, leaving the first period without a goal to their credit. Crosby started the game playing with Patrice Bergeron, who had shown great chemistry with the superstar center when the two played together in 2005 at the World Juniors. That experiment was shortlived, and Calgary captain Jarome Iginla was called up from the 4th line to take Bergeron’s place with Crosby and Rick Nash. This move proved to be quite the success, as Iginla finished the game with a hat trick, helping spark the Canadians to 8 goals over the last two periods. Crosby assisted on all 3 goals from Iginla.
Roberto Luongo was solid in net when called upon, stopping the 15 shots he faced, and the Canadians also got solid production out of the 3 forwards from San Jose: Dany Heatley scored 2 goals, and the offensive juggernaut that his line (Heatley, Marleau and Thornton) has been all season appears to be in full swing at these Games. Ryan Getzlaf, a question mark for the Canadian roster after suffering an ankle injury last week, had a number of good chances to score, and was finally able to bury one late in the 3rd. Mike Richards and Corey Perry were Canada’s other goal scorers.
On Thursday, the Canadians ran into a Swiss team that clearly didn’t get the memo that they were next on Canada’s list of opponents to steamroll. The Swiss skated hard and played the body even harder, hitting the Canadian defensemen on just about every forecheck and battling for every loose puck. That San Jose line was clicking well again for the Canadians, as Heatley and Marleau scored Canada’s 2 goals in the game, but it was also Marleau’s skate that a Swiss shot deflected off of to beat Martin Brodeur and tie the game at 2-2. At that point, the crowd got a bit anxious, and it appeared the Canadian players did as well. Despite a number of good scoring chances, Hiller looked absolutely unbeatable at times, and the Canadians seemed to be pressing just a bit too hard to make that perfect play, rather than simply bombard the Swiss netminder.
In overtime, the Canadians looked better, compiling a number of good scoring chances. Rick Nash slipped through the Swiss defense early in OT, but was taken down and crashed hard into Hiller, and Drew Doughty made a beautiful spin-o-rama to beat a Swiss defender before making a blind pass into the slot that should have resulted in a goal, had Joe Thornton not already departed the ice for a change.
Canada faces the US next on Sunday, in an important game that will decide which of the two teams will get the bye into the quarterfinals. The US currently has 6 points, with regulation wins over Switzerland and Norway, while the Canadians were only able to gather 2 points from their overtime win against the Swiss, leaving them with 5. Still, a Canadian win, either in regulation or extra time, would guarantee them the bye, as they would hold the head-to-head advantage over the US, as well as goal differential.