Canada Crushes Europe 4-1; Awaits Semi-Finals Opponent

While both of tonight’s World Cup of Hockey combatants entered their showdown with a spot in the semi-finals assured, there were high stakes at play for this clash between Canada’s hockey establishment and the European conglomerate cobbled together for this tournament’s sake. 

A win tonight and the victor would avoid Team Sweden and wait out a match with Team North America or Team Russia — opponents that seem favourable relative to the Tre Kronor.

With tonight’s 4-1 victory, Canada now awaits either their time honoured cross-Atlantic rivals in Russia or some of their country’s young in the semi-finals. And they made it look so, so easy. Without Shea Weber, Ryan Getzlaf and Carey Price, the Canadians dispatched Europe in short order, outshooting Europe 46-20 in the process.

It didn’t take long for the Canadians to find the scoresheet. Sidney Crosby converted on a broken play behind the European net, catching Jaroslav Halak out of position and sending the wraparound home.

The Canadians continued to press, outshooting the Europeans 6-3 in the opening ten minutes, but couldn’t find paydirt again until a Jonathan Toews goal in the dying seconds of the period. Surely it wasn’t the most difficult goal of Toews’ career either. All Toews’ had to do was redirect the Matt Duchene shot after the setup man caught a misplayed puck by Halak and launched it on the open net.

This must’ve been especially painful for Halak, who’d robbed Steven Stamkos and Brad Marchand in a two-minute span prior.

The Canadians left the first leading 2-0 with a 17-4 mark on the shot-clock. For the Europeans, this was getting ugly quick. With a little puck-luck though they were able to pull within one. Marian Hossa, the ageless wonder himself, was able to convert on a half-wall rush, banking the puck off an unsuspecting Corey Crawford for the European’s first goal of the game. It would prove to be their only marker.

That goal seemed to wake the European’s up. Though the shot clock remained lopsided as ever, they seemed to tilt the ice ever so slightly in their favour, if only for a short while. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t getting any more easy bounces from Crawford. The Blackhawks netminder held the fort for Canada, and the host nation found their legs and pushed back.

On one such push, the Canadians capitalized on a bad Luca Sbisa pinch and converted on the two on one, with Toews putting his second goal past a stickless Roman Josi and Halak alike for his second goal on the night. 

The Canadians pulled away at that point and more-or-less played keep-away en route to a 4-1 victory over the Europeans, with Logan Couture potting the final marker in the third period.

Team Europe will now play Sweden and the Canadians await North America or Russia.