Canada's Josh Ho-Sang fights for the puck during the men's preliminary round group A match between Canada and the U.S. on Saturday at the Beijing Olympics.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
In late January, Team Canada head coach Claude Julien took part in one of our treasured national cold-weather pastimes – nearly accidentally killing yourself in pursuit of winter “fun.”
Julien’s toboggan went off-piste during a team-building exercise and he pranged into a tree. He broke ribs, punctured a lung and had to have surgery.
After missing the first week of the Winter Olympics here in Beijing, he popped up by surprise and reassumed control behind the bench. It’s fair to say no member of the Canadian men’s hockey team has gone through more to be here.
So you’d hope that after his first game in charge, he’d have something nice to report.
“This is an opportunity for us to learn,” Julien said. “Through adversity, you become better.”
Uh oh.
On paper, Canada vs. the United States on Saturday afternoon was not that close. Even more so minus the NHLers.
We’ve got a likely future hall of famer, some guys who can still remember what it’s like to play in the big time and a couple of tippy-top prospects. The U.S. is a college all-star team sprinkled with a few two-fisted types from the Kontinental Hockey League.
This was never going to be easy, but it also shouldn’t have been hard. So in the way of these things, it wasn’t. For the U.S.
Without NHL stars, Canada’s men’s hockey team is an inscrutable mix of youngsters and veterans
After scoring a fluky goal in the first few seconds, Canada was pushed steadily backward by American pressure, as the U.S. jumped in front. A good second period couldn’t right the ship. A fourth U.S. goal scored early in the third was a killer. Canada had a late two-man advantage that felt like it might turn things the other way, but nothing came of it.
A few lazy zone clearances and some iffy goaltending and that’s how you lose 4-2 to a team you should’ve beat.
United States' Kenny Agostino celebrates his goal next to Canada's Maxim Noreau during a preliminary round men's hockey game on Saturday in Beijing.Matt Slocum/The Associated Press
In the midst of this intracontinental tilt at the National Indoor Stadium, you can’t help but take a few moments to consider the audience. The fans in Beijing have fresh eyes when it comes to this sport. What do they make of it?
Nothing, best one can tell. They come early. They space out. They wave their hands when they’re told. Otherwise, they don’t make a peep.
Maybe they were expecting wide-open, “Olympic” – in quotes – hockey. If so, they were disappointed. The rinks here are North American-sized, prompting a North American style of play. Let’s just say the tensile strength of the end boards is getting a good workout.
A tight, antagonistic game suits the Americans, as it prevents Canada from deploying its (theoretically) superior skill set in open spaces. Since all Canadians are precluded by Charter rule from passing on a fight when they are dressed in red, they fell into that trap.
If the goal was impressing the hosts with the beauty of men in flight, that didn’t happen. In the rare moments when space did open up – notably, in the back half of the second period – Canada skated circles around their opponents.
But if the goal was America winning Group A and putting Canada under immediate match-up pressure, then mission accomplished.
Is this a disaster? Of course not. But it’s not nothing. You wouldn’t know that if you talked to someone in red.
Julien: “Obviously, it wasn’t our best game. But I liked our start.”
Maxim Noreau: “We kinda played into their hands sometimes.”
Eric Staal: “It was a competitive game.”
This is starting to look and sound familiar.
At this point in 2018, Canada’s hockey no-namers were also giving off signs of distress. They also blew a lead (to the Czechs) in their second game. Unlike this time around, they were able to extend to a shootout before succumbing.
“We played hard,” Willie Desjardins, the Canadian coach at the time, said after that one. “The time you worry is when you don’t play hard.”
No. The time you worry in a six-game sprint like the Olympics is when you blow leads and then lose. “Working hard” is only a defence in the context of an NHL season, where you have 20, 40 or 80 more games to get it right.
The bad news is that Canada is now in danger of losing out on a knockout-round bye. In a best-case scenario after that, it means five games in eight days. It’s not a wild amount, but some of these guys haven’t played a ton recently. A day off between starts can only help.
Team Canada players watch the closing seconds of the 4-2 loss to the United States in men's ice hockey preliminary action Saturday at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
The good news is that the third tiebreaker that determines who gets that bye is goal difference.
Canada’s final round robin game is on Sunday against China. The Americans beat the host nation 8-0.
In a kinder, gentler Olympic world, Canada could afford to take it easy on the hosts. Now it will have to pile on the pain.
One assumes this is why Julien was talking up a fantasy hockey world in which Canada has to take the Chinese team seriously.
“I think we’ll have a good opponent to play against tomorrow.”
Okay, sure. Whatever it takes to salve your conscience when you’re beating up on someone who can’t fight back. But then it could get hard again in a hurry.
It’s still an open question about how much the country at large cares about a men’s hockey gold if the NHL isn’t involved. That’s not to suggest that people don’t like the idea, but that they don’t feel lessened as a hockey power if it doesn’t come to pass.
“When our best play your best, then we’ll see,” seems to be the fallback position.
But regardless of who’s playing, it’s getting more and more difficult to claim undisputed ownership of the sport – Canada’s default take – if you don’t win tournaments you should win.
Maybe this isn’t that sort of scenario. Maybe hard work, battling adversity and taking it one day at a time is all this team of stalwarts requires.
But if history is our guide, it’s beginning to feel like it’s repeating itself.
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