In the end, they won. Team Canada, beat the Swiss 3-2 in a shootout in their second game of the 2010 Winter Olympics Thursday night and avoided a potentially embarrassing scenario.
Not surprisingly, for many Canadians this was a traumatic experience, but if you stop and think about it, it’s par for the course. Even when the Canadians won gold in 2002 in Salt Lake, they didn’t rip it up early in the tournament. In fact, Canada was lucky to qualify for the quarterfinals after losing 5-2 to Sweden, sneaking out a 3-2 win over Germany and tying the Czechs 3-3. Then Canada barely beat the Finns (2-1) in the quarters. However, Sweden lost 4-3 to Belarus in their quarterfinal match (the upset of the Century can happen to anybody) and Canada got a free pass (7-1) into the finals.
So on Thursday, Canada was taken to a shootout by a well-coached team with great goaltending, a team that gave the Americans a run for their money in a 3-1 loss.
Sure, on paper the Swiss team can’t match up to Canada and every number, except the one on the scoreboard, suggested they did not. Canada outshot the Swiss 46-23 and had absolute territorial control, but give the Swiss — and especially their coach — some respect. Steinbach’s Ralph Krueger, once again, did a tremendous job to convince his team to play aggressively and with abandon — especially on the penalty kill — against a better opponent. It’s what the Olympics are supposed to be (would you rather have the lopsided mess in women’s hockey?) and we should congratulate the Swiss, not rip the Canadians.
Let’s face it, Jonas Hiller, one of the best goalies in the NHL, played brilliantly, and what might have been a 10-2 blowout turned out to be a 2-2 tie. It happens. Goalies can win hockey games all by themselves.
Frankly, this just sets up the opportunity for a wonderful game on Sunday night. Canada-USA will be sensational and even though Canada is already through to the quarterfinals, this will be an important statement game against a very good opponent.
And guess what? Canada will have to watch out for Ryan Miller, the U.S. goaltender who, like Hiller, is one of the best in the game. This isn’t going to be easy.
So go get your Team Canada jersey, pop open a Coke and tune into CTV for Sunday night’s battle. I guarantee, it will be the highlight of your Olympic weekend.