Adaptability Canucks' Strength
By AL STRACHAN -- Toronto Sun
NOW, THE World Cup gets serious. The exhibition games are over. The round-robin is over. Now, it's a single-game elimination playoff, a format that can produce some surprise winners.
Look at Greece in soccer's 2004 European Cup. Or look at the recent Stanley Cup finals.
Had they been playing a one-game series, the Calgary Flames would have won last June, not the Tampa Bay Lightning. Two years earlier, the Carolina Hurricanes would have been hoisting the trophy.
FIRST-GAME LOSERS
In fact, three of the past six Stanley Cups were won by teams that lost the first game of the final.
You'd have to assume, since they eventually won a seven-game series, each was the better team. But in a one-game elimination, they'd have lost.
So, although the World Cup tournament features some great hockey and will give Canadians cause for celebration if their team wins, it doesn't really prove much.
But watching this team in action does. The lost an opening exhibition game against Team USA when the Americans surprised them with a two-man forecheck, something they had not been expecting from a defensive-minded coach like Ron Wilson.
But they bounced back in the subsequent game and have never looked strained since.
They've played three different types of teams and have never needed to make a comeback, never looked as if they weren't in control.
They lost a key defenceman in Ed Jovanovski and fitted in Scott Hannan seamlessly. Wade Redden went down and Jay Bouwmeester stepped in to replace him without any noticeable deterioration in quality.
What country in the world could be without the likes of Redden, Jovanovski, Rob Blake and Chris Pronger (not to mention Al MacInnis who would also have been on the team had he not missed most of the season with an eye injury) and still not have serious woes on defence?
And even now, Canada has not fully used its resources. It's hypothetical because the rules don't allow replacement players until a team is down to 17 healthy skaters, but if call-ups were needed, Mike Rathje, Chris Phillips, Bryan McCabe, Derek Morris and Brad Stuart, all extremely competent defencemen, are still in the wings.
And up front, there is no rest for the opposition.
Every night, a different line comes to the fore. On Saturday, it was Brad Richards and Kris Draper, two guys who hadn't scored in the first two games, building the lead that the Russians were unable to overcome.
All that remains is for Mario Lemieux to take over a game.
To be able to play as he is doing at his age and after a 10-month layoff is nothing short of phenomenal. But this is a phenomenal athlete.
To prepare for this series, he shuttled back and forth to Los Angeles, going out there for extended periods of preparation that required an almost incomprehensible five hours a day of training.
When he came to training camp, he admitted that his game sense was off a little bit, but as fans can see -- and as Lemieux admits -- it's coming back every game.
Earlier on, he said that he can't beat an opponent one on one any more. But on the weekend, when it was pointed out to him that he may be underestimating himself, he laughed and said he feels about ready to give it a try.
CAUSE OF OPTIMISM
It is possible that Canada could lose a game in this tournament and not win the World Cup. It could even be the first game. In sudden-death eliminations, anything can happen.
But whether they do or they don't, there is still cause for optimism. This is an absolutely superb team and it's full of players who will be representing Canada for years and years to come.
