Canada v. United States

You may not have even realized it, but we were mortal enemies for 3 hours last Wednesday.

In Sweden, at the World Junior Hockey Championships, Canada and the U.S. were locked in a heated semi-final battle, a game that will certainly go down as one for the ages. The World Junior tournament features the best players in the world under the age of 20, and though it flies under the radar in the U.S., it is a holiday tradition up here in Canada. In fact, saying that it flies under the radar in the U.S. is an understatement— I couldn’t find mention of the Canada vs. USA game anywhere online despite the Americans having one of the tournaments top teams.

Sure, you may not care very much about hockey. But in Canada, we care quite a bit. You may be interested to know that the U.S.A. is getting better, to the point that they’ve become as big a rival to Canada as the Russians. The Canadian/Russian rivalry used to be the biggest one in hockey, and in many ways it still is, but our rivalry with the U.S.A is growing with each international tournament that takes place.

The truth is that up here, athletically speaking, hockey is all we have. It’s the only sport in which the Americans are inferior to us. Steve Nash and Justin Morneau may be current MVP’s, but everybody knows that in professional sports, the Olympics and even poker, America is supreme.

Perhaps God gave Canada hockey so that we wouldn’t develop an inferiority complex, and I believe our success as a hockey nation is the reason Canadians have been able to maintain a reputation as a kind, polite people. Should we not have hockey, we would not have a reason to smile or cheer and beer wouldn’t taste as good (okay the last one is not true).

The reason I want to let you know about American hockey is because in recent years you have produced world class talent. The first pick of last June’s draft was an American, defenseman Erik Johnson to the St. Louis Blues. Johnson was a force in this year’s tournament, with 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) and was named the tournaments top defenseman.

Games against countries like Germany and Switzerland are of little personal importance to me, and I’m able to remain fairly neutral toward Finland, Sweden and Slovakia. The teams that draw the most emotion and anger in me are the Czech Republic, Russia and yes, you Americans.

I have begun to fear the United States, treating them as a most respected and worthy adversary. In the past 7 years Canada and the U.S. have faced each other in 4 elimination games, all of which were decided by one-goal. In fact, Canada had won 16 straight games coming into the January 3rd semi-final game, with our last loss at the WJC’s coming to the U.S.A. in the 2004 Gold medal final which featured now Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury banking a clearing attempt off defenseman Braydon Coburn to give the U.S.A a one goal victory.

I can honestly say that I hate losing to the U.S.A. more than I hate losing to any country not named Russia. But I’m conflicted. You see, while I would rather die than cheer for Russia, I would gladly support the United States—as long as they don’t win at Canada’s expense.

The U.S. team at this year’s tournament featured a deep and talented line-up, but had trouble playing as a team in the early-going of the tournament. An opening day overtime loss to Germany followed by a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Canada had the Americans reeling. In fact, had they not beaten Slovakia, they would have been out of medal contention before their final round robin game against the host Swedes. The Americans dominated the Slovaks, then went on to count a dramatic overtime win against Sweden thanks to a Jack Johnson goal on the power play. The U.S. then beat Finland in the quarter-final game to get a chance at the undefeated Canadians in todays semi-final. They showed great character and determination to get to this game, something that is certainly admirable.

I was confident coming into the game. Our team is balanced, we have great defense and good chemistry, and I felt we should beat the Americans without too much trouble. Especially since the Americans had played 4 games in 5 nights, and had played their quarter-final game less than 24 hours before the puck dropped in this one. Our team was good, clearly the cream of the crop, and so I was feeling relaxed before the puck dropped.

But like David Bowie, I’m afraid of Americans. Like I said, America is improving at hockey, and they came out flying at the start of the game. Canada looked to be stuck in quicksand, and I began sweating profusely as the American forwards produced chance after chance, while Canada seemed to be holding on for dear life.

Much of the first went this way; our power play sucked, your goalie Jeff Frazee (University of Minnesota) played incredible when called upon. Forwards Patrick Kane and Peter Mueller were dominant with the puck, striking fear in my heart whenever they possessed it. I begun to believe that for the first time in three years at this tournament, that Canada could lose a game.

After Taylor Chorney (University of North Dakota) banked a pass in off Canadian defensemen Mark Staal’s skate, it seemed that things could not get worse. In the second period Canada played as badly as they did in the first, meaning I was not feeling reassured that we would be making a game of it. Frazee absolutely robbed Canadian forward Bryan Little, after which I mumbled, ‘you’re not going to get a better chance than that.’ I was growing bitter.

However the third held a different story. Perhaps the U.S. ran out of gas. Perhaps Canada, realizing what was at stake, raised their level of play. I will choose to believe the latter, while acknowledging I may have a slight bias. Canada dominated the third while the U.S. began to take penalties, a sure sign that they were getting tired of chasing the well-rested Canadians, who I suppose waited until the third period to reveal that they were playing possum early on to conserve their energy. Luc Bourdon finally scored on the power play 12:19 into the third, knotting the game at 1-1.

For the remainder of the third the two teams seemed to play not to lose, neither squad wanting to relinquish a winning goal in the final few minutes of the third. Regulation ended in a tie and the tension was palpable as overtime started, with the Americans looking much stronger in OT and gaining an early advantage in shots on goal. Overtime features four skaters aside for a ten minute period, so when Canadian captain Kris Letang took a penalty for high sticking Jack Johnson (University of Michigan) in the face, it meant the Americans would have a four-on-three powerplay.

I learned that a situation such as this is enough to nearly kill a healthy 23-year-old Canadian man. For two minutes the Americans challenged again and again, with Canadian goaltender Carey Price standing on his head, refusing to allow the winning goal. Later, he said that he’d never been so tired on a penalty-kill, admitting that he nearly threw up due to the relentless American pressure. Canada had killed the penalty and survived a dreadful overtime in which they were out shot 12-2, sending the game to a shoot-out.

It turns out that shoot-outs are worse for my health than sudden death overtime. The two teams discovered goals were not difficult to score, as they went back in forth into the 7th round of the shootout. After the 3rd round the teams could repeat shooters, so Canadian Jonathan Toews, who had scored twice in the shootout already, moved in and scored a third goal on Jeff Frazee. Mueller had to score for the Americans, and despite having scored on his first two attempts as well, could not put the puck past Carey Price, sending the Canadians over the boards and into Price’s crease in celebration.

The intensity of this game was the most I’ve witnessed in a hockey game since the 2002 Olympic Gold Medal game, when the Canadians also played the Americans. It’s a further testament to the growing rivalry between the two countries—both teams want to win, but more than that, they don’t want to lose to each other. For now, the bragging rights remain in Canada, but given the development of young American hockey players in the last few years, it is only a matter of time until the U.S. is consistently a world hockey power.

Now’s the time for Americans to start getting excited about hockey. Get on board now before it becomes trendy. You could drive the bandwagon. Your team had 17 NHL draft picks, including a #1 overall, Erik Johnson (6’4”, 220) to the St. Louis Blues, and featured three other players that will be drafted come June.

For now, I’m better than you. That is, until the next major sporting event that isn’t hockey comes on.