In the preliminary round of the World Cup, team USA couldn’t avoid facing powerful Canadian team. At the Air Canada Centre, Team Canada showed too much skill as they managed to record a 4-2 victory, eliminating Team USA, on Tuesday night.
After the game, Patrick Kane said:” Two games here and you’re done. It’s just amazing. It’s crazy the way hockey is.”
However, this loss has consequences. The USA won’t be able to reach semis and it raised a lot of questions about the direction of the USA hockey. Before the match with Canada, Team USA coach John Tortorella declared that the game is “a big opportunity for USA Hockey”
Meanwhile, Canada has a 2-0 score in Group A, whereas the USA will play against the Czech Republic on Thursday, but since their score is 0-2, the win won’t change anything, since they had already booked their ticket home. Canada’s victory helped Team Europe move to the semi-final that begins Saturday night. Team Europe is led by a winger Marian Hossa.
Team USA started strong with a goal by Ryan McDonagh. Matt Duchene, who scored two goals, Corey Perry and Patrice Bergeron were the scorers for Team Canada. Near the end, however, T.J. Oshie scored a goal for the USA for the final 4-2 score.
The USA continues to struggle internationally as they were fourth in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and third in Vancouver six years ago. Team Canada won gold on both occasions.
Moreover, Patrick Kane said:”(In) 2010 we were close and (it) felt like we were on the rise. In 2014, we had a great round-robin, great quarterfinal game and then lose by one goal (to Canada in the semifinals). You play the next day on a back-to-back and you end up coming up with a 5-0 loss (to Finland). It’s definitely frustrating being an American and having these opportunities and have nothing to show for it.”
It is possible that we see new players on the US roster, as well as a new coach. But Kane defended his current coach:” Tortorella is just one of the most passionate guys I’ve ever seen about hockey. I’ll never say a bad thing about him. He’s just a great coach. We didn’t show up for him. I feel bad in that sense, for sure.”
So far, Canada has had an easy job on the road to the finals. The possible obstacle may be Sweden, who have a 2-0 score. They defeated their neighbor Finland 2-0 in their last match in Group B.
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist returned after an illness to make 36 saves in the match.
“We knew the importance of this game and we played really smart, played really hard. We knew the Finns would come out and be very desperate. I felt like we played with really good structure and it really helped me get comfortable out there,” Lundqvist said.
