For sheer drama, Scotiabank Place has never seen anything quite like it.
But then, where in the world has?
With the board play leading up to it, the move, what was at stake ... the entire setting, Jordan Eberle's game tying goal with 5.4 seconds left last night had to remind you of Paul Henderson's winner in Game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series. Did me, for sure.
Unbelievable.
The Slovak-Sweden warmup act was a great one. But the Canada-Russia showdown that followed will go down as a classic.
If there's ever been a better day of hockey at Scotiabank Place, I've never seen it.
Unbelievable.
Starts and stops
They were like a bad rash. Red and refusing to go away. Four times Canada took the lead and four times the Russians came back, usually quickly, always persistent ... He has an uncle Phil (and another named Tony) and he too wears No. 7, but Angelo Esposito is not related to the greatest goal scorer in Boston Bruins history. He just looked like it on the move and finishing touch on a short-handed breakaway goal that put Canada ahead 4-3 so briefly in the third ... Scoring Russia's first goal of the night was stud defenceman Maxim Goncharov, who's listed as a 6-foot, 176-pounder but plays much bigger. This season, Goncharov has six goals and four assists (as well as 40 PIMs) in 33 games with CSKA Moscow of the new Kontinental Hockey League. The leading points-getter (with 27) on the team is former Senators winger Oleg "Freakin" Saprykin, while the leading goal scorer (with 15) is former Senators winger Petr Schastlivy ... Two minutes into the third, John Tavares missed by an inch of becoming the all-time leading Canadian goal scorer in world junior hockey championship history. His shot from the left-wing faceoff circle with the score 3-3 hit the crossbar ... Best Individual Goal Celebration of the tournament so far belongs to Slovakia's Tomas Tartar, after he put his team up 2-1 in the second. If TSN stays with it long enough on the highlight reel, you'll see Tartar finish his knee slide with a perfect pop-up in front of the fans on the glass. Nice goal, too. But great "celly."
Between periods
Russia's Dmitri Klopov scored the goal that put his team ahead 5-4, but he is also the player who iced the puck looking for insurance with the Canada net empty. Bad call on his part ... From the Europeans who grew up watching soccer, you expect it. But all the diving or faking going on from Canadian players is rather embarrassing ... In his hometown of Climax, Sask., they also know Team Canada assistant coach Willie Desjardins as a solid centrefielder .... It's to the point the fans start going crazy as soon as P.K. Subban starts winding up behind his own net. What are they going to do when he's back in a Montreal Canadiens jersey? ... Wasn't Evander Kane cut from this team once? Last night he was merely one of Canada's best players ... In Nicklas Lasu, the Atlanta Thrashers have themselves a pretty solid player. The Swedish winger, selected by the Thrashers in the fifth round of last spring's draft, delivered a tremendous shoulder-to-shoulder body check on Martin Stajnoch in the first period then stood his ground when Ondrej Rusnak took a run at him in the second. In fact, it was Rusnak that was left wobbly after that collision ... At the game was Lasu's dad Tyrone. He played with Daniel Alfredsson in the Allsvenskan (second highest Swedish league) just before the Senators captain came to Ottawa. Judging by the size of his neck, we're guessing Tyrone rattled a few bones himself ... Magnus Svensson Paarjavi didn't score, but he drew two Slovak penalties with great bursts of speed to the net.
Things that make you go hmmm
Biggest hit from the extra-large Victor Hedman yesterday was him slamming the door as the last player off the bench when it was ruled the shot by Nichlas Torp went in a split second after time expired in the second ... Talked to one fan in a Swedish jersey who said he was "sh----g his pants" with the Slovaks up 2-1 in the third. No crap ... The great song you don't want to hear often tomorrow night is The Prodigy -- Invaders Must Die. It's the tune that blares from the sound system when Sweden scores ... Ah, to be holding a ticket with the numbers 1043696 on it last night. The 50-50 winner took home 25 grand ... To those disgusted by the look, I only wore the dopey purple Minnesota Vikings cap with the sharp blue suit because of a lost bet with Ottawa bar owner Steve Manuk. I have better taste -- in colour schemes and football teams.
