The game we have all been waiting for. Canada versus USA. For most of the players in the game, they haven’t had a chance to play best-on-best hockey in their careers, and this was set to be one of the biggest games of their lives. From an entertainment standpoint, especially for a neutral fan, this was an all-timer. For Canadian watchers, there was quite a bit of frustration with the game.
Canada Is No Match for USA’s Physicality
Yes, there are some physical players on Canada. Colton Parayko, Sam Bennett, Brandon Hagel, and Drew Doughty can all throw their weight around, but on a team level, they were no match for the wave after wave of physicality the Americans threw their way.
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Obviously the biggest story out of the game was the three fights in the first nine seconds of the game, and Hagel, Parayko, and Bennett held their own in those fights and were part of a good show. But during the actual game, throwing hits wasn’t as effective. Bennett, Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, and Seth Jarvis all recorded three or more hits, which are good numbers, and the total hits were pretty close, but it was the effectiveness of the hits that weren’t there.
Big hits from Charlie McAvoy, Brady Tkachuk, Noah Hanifin, and J.T. Miller came at just the right time and were often momentum-changing hits.
Hockey isn’t just about hits. As fun as they are, just the numbers don’t tell the story. If you check the box score after that game, and Canada had three times as many hits, it doesn’t mean much unless they were used effectively at the right time. In that regard, USA dominated, and Canada didn’t have much to push back with.
Individual Efforts Missing from Canada’s Game
The undisputed top two players in the league with Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, as well as others who are certainly in the conversation for the top players in the league, really struggled to be effective in their own right. Yes, McDavid’s goal where he flew my McAvoy was a great solo effort, but outside of that, Canada had nothing.
There was some criticism after the first game against Sweden that those players were being too selfish, including comments about MacKinnon in overtime. It seems that they took it too personally and were trying to play too selflessly. Even with a good shooting opportunity, they would always look for the pass…
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