Hockey Championships CANADA vs FINLAND
Hey everyone, hope you are all having a great Holiday Season and we all know what comes with it – THE WORLD JUNIORS !! Welcome back to HOPPER on HOCKEY. Truly the most wonderful time of the year as this year’s edition looks to be another heart stopper.
What are your favorite memories ? Jordan Eberle’s virtuoso performance (’09), Gretzky’s debut way back (’78) at the start from the Montreal Forum or how about the Gold Medal Winners from a pair of unheralded pluggers named John Slaney (‘91) or Nigel Dawes (’05). Two words: The Connors. I will personally never forget the diligence of Jonathan Toews in that shoot out victory over the USA (’07). Honorable mention MUST go to the “Punch up in Piestany”.
Earlier in the day, Sweden beat Slovakia 5-2, the USA dominated Germany 10 to 4 and then the Czechs took Switzerland 5-1.
Team Canada played in 3 WJC tune ups winning all 3 against the Swiss 7-1 (Easton Cowan hat trick), Czechia 3-2 and Sweden 4-2. Tonight’s matchup has long time nemesis Finland vs the hometown Canadians and their deep roster looking to make amends for last year’s 5th place finish.
After an initial feeling out process, Canada began to dominate, leading 6 to 1 in shots on goal during the first 5 minutes. The top line of Calum Ritchie (Oshawa), Easton Cowan (London) and Bradley Nadeau (Chicago AHL) lived up to their billing with smothering offensive shifts throughout the first. The teams exchanged power play opportunities in last 6 minutes to no avail until just turned 17 year old phenom Gavin McKenna pumped in his own rebound in the final minute of the frame. Finland would start the second with man advantage. SOG 17-6 Canada.
Finland had zero shots to start their second period PP attempt. In fact, the best chance belonged to Drummondville’s Ethan Gauthier on a clear-cut breakaway that Petteri Rimpinen got in the way of. Not long after, Cowan stepped in to pick a loose puck thanks to Nadeau’s forecheck and then used Ritchie as a decoy to hammer Canada’s 2-0 goal on the short side. The home team continued to out work and overpower the Finns with their superior speed, size and grit. Final SOG 12-5/29-11 overall.
WOW, what a difference a period can make. To say it was charitable that the Finns were only down only 2 zip would be an understatement. They turned it around bigtime in the third, outshooting the Canadians 20 to 11. Goalie Carter George proved why he was chosen for the number one job in the Canadian cage. Wave after wave (including a 6 on 4 for 2 minutes) George stood solid, earning Player of the Game status. He only had to stop 11 attempts in the first 2 periods. Canada persevered with goals from Luca Pinelli off a beauty feed from Caden Price and then another 17 year old, Mathew Schaffer, put the final nail in the coffin with a 200 foot empty netter tomake the final 4-0. GREAT GAME !
HOPPER NOTES: Before the third period it was hard to pick a soft spot in the Canadian game…dumb penalties and poor clearouts changed that in the third…standouts for me, other than the obvious, were the defense pair of Andrew Gibson and Tanner Molendyk and forward Berkly Catton…does Gavin McKenna remind you of someone…Canada goes against Latvia tomorrow, Germany on Sunday and then the biggie vs the USA on New Year’s eve…who is your favorite 5 Golds in – a row era-1993 to 1997 or 2005 through 2009…Canada is trying for their 21st GOLD medal – the closest rival – the USSR, CIS/Russia with 13…NOW let’s not take a nap on Latvia tomorrow ! CHEERS.