SASKATOON – For the first time it was gut check time. And Team Canada checked out just fine.
“The big thing with Canadians is that we believe,” said Jordan Eberle. “We don't expect to lose. We battle. That's what Canadians do. In a situation like that, we don't panic. We almost welcome it. We find a way to win when other teams don't.”
This was a team which desperately needed to face some adversity. When they did here last night, the kids overcame and gave Canada yet another New Years Eve game to remember, a 5-4 shootout win over the USA.
“Obviously facing adversity is huge,” said the Regina Pat and Edmonton Oilers draft choice. “It makes your team better and it makes hockey fun.”
For the longest time it looked like being part of such a pathetic pool at the World Junior and outscoring Latvia,
Switzerland ad Slovakia and by a combined count of 30-2 in their first three games, was going to bite them in the butt here last night against the Americans, who had a easy run of it, too, in the group of ghastly games with the combined for-against total of 72-15 going into this one.
“I think we needed the adversity,” said defenceman Ryan Ellis. “We hadn't faced much here. We needed a kick in the butt. That was a big character win.
“We weren't moving our feet. We weren't into the game early. But we have a lot of guys who were selected to this team to be able to do what we did in a game like this.”
As was the case when Canada had to overcome to stretch the gold medal run to five-in-a-row it was Eberle leading the way. For the second time in the tournament he was named player of the game as he led Canada to escape the fate of a quarter-final game tomorrow against Finland. Instead, Canada plays the winner of the Russia-Switzerland quarter-final in a Sunday semi-final.
Eberle brought the Canadians back from 2-1 early, from 4-2 again and then scored in the shootout.
But for a while there he looked like he was going to end up as the goat of the game, having taken a penalty with five minutes to go. But a shorthanded goal by Alex Pietrangelo bailed him and the Canadians out.
“When he scored I almost jumped out of the penalty box. I was so excited,” he said.
Eberle could have been the out-right hero again with 25 seconds to go in regulation when he had a great chance on a breakaway. But it all worked out in the end.
For the Americans, it was like being Rod Tichon of Andrew, Alta. He was the guy who got to shoot for a million dollars in the New Year's Eve promotion.
He needed to score 15 of 20 shots within 15 seconds to win. He scored 13 and hit two goal posts.
The Alberta farmer from just outside Andrew, a town of 450 people known, as Tichon explained, “for the world's largest mallard duck” had the same kind of experience as the USA team.
“I had the focus right off the bat,” he said. “If I had experience, if this wasn't my first time, I think I would have succeeded. It was an exciting experience. I didn't expect it to be that exciting.”
“It was just a great hockey game,” said American coach Dean Blais. “The Canadian team finds a way to win. Good teams find a way to win.”
For Vancouver Canucks draft choice Jordan Schroeder, who missed the final shot on the shootout, it was the same deal.
“It was such a good game only to slip at the end,” he said of gassing a two goal lead.
Most fans, the way this tournament had gone to this point, didn't expect this one to be so exciting, either.
Especially when Canada, which had opened the scoring at 0:23 and 0:36 in the first two games of the tournament here, had a 1-0 lead of 2:03 of this one.
But they found out soon enough that they were finally in a game.
“I don't think you're ever real calm when you're down by two goals with 10 minutes to play. But we weren't hanging our heads,” said Canadian coach Willie Desjardins.
“It was good to get that adversity. Not having had any hurt us a little bit.”
terry.jones@sunmedia.ca
