Canada vs. Germany (post-game)

RICK MACDONNELL, SnowSeekers Inc.

It pretty much went according to plan. Team Canada walked over Germany 8-2 in its qualification game tonight, setting up a thrilling quarterfinal game against the highly powered Russians tomorrow.
Most comforting was the play of the line of Sydney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, and Eric Staal, who were united as a trio for the first time in the tournament. The trio combined for three goals, six points, and dominated the Germans on almost every shift.

Coach Mike Babcock had been playing Crosby alongside all-star winger Rick Nash for the previous three games, but the two were split up after combining for a minus-6 in their last game against the Americans.
Nash, paired with Anaheim Duck teammates Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, finally got on the score sheet as well, scoring the team's eighth goal with a blazing wrister from his off wing in the dying minutes of the third.
"6-2, 8-2, what's the difference?" said Mike O'Donnell, a passionate Canadian fan who predicted a 6-2 Canadian victory earlier in the day. "Under promise and over perform, am I right? It couldn't have gone much better."
Even the two German goals – which might have been cause for concern given that the Germans have far from a potent attack – couldn't be blamed on goaltender Roberto Luongo, who started in place of the struggling Martin Brodeur.
By all reports, he looked much sharper than Brodeur did against the Americans.
The question now becomes whether this game was a case of Canadian skill and talent, or a just "a win over Germany."
According to O'Donnell, the Canadians deserve all the credit for the victory.
"The important thing to focus on is the fact that they were better than the Germans in every facet of the game, and by a large margin.

"The Crosby line looked fantastic, all four lines scored at least a goal, and Luongo did what he had to do. With Luongo, he wasn't going to have the opportunity to come out and look incredible, because the Germans simply don't have the talent to match Canada."
O'Donnell, a former hockey player himself at Northeastern University in Boston, is a former New Brunswick native who's wife is American. They attended the Canada/U.S.A. game on Sunday in Vancouver, and the duo are eagerly looking forward to a rematch.
"The atmosphere for that game was absolutely incredible," said Jenn O'Donnell. "I was one of the only people in the entire crowd with an American jersey on, so naturally I was getting it from the crowd. It was all in fun, though. We were hugging after the game. It was great."
The Olympic Games are so very different than other international hockey tournaments like the World Championships or the World Juniors. In those tournaments, opposing nations are considered enemies. Fans hate them and revel in that hatred.
With the Olympics, though, it's interesting to see the sportsmanship amongst the fans. Everyone still wants to see their teams win, obviously, but they're just as happy to celebrate other's victories as well.
"It's like one big happy family here," Jenn said. "We fight, we compete, we cheer and boo, but at the end of the day, we're all playing for the same team."
Let's see how sportsmanlike the Canadian fans will be on Wednesday after the game against the Russians.

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Canada vs. Germany (Pre-Game)

RICK MACDONNELL, SnowSeekers Inc.

It's a slippery slope that Team Canada was on. The loss to the Americans on Sunday was a shock to the system, for sure, despite the fact that the Canadians carried the play for the majority of the game, and were the victim of some shaky goaltending in their own end and some stellar goaltending in the other.

The Canadian men are the most stacked team in the entire tournament (sorry, Russia, but you have nothing on Canada, depth-wise), and were expected by many to roll into the gold medal game.
A narrow victory over the Swiss and a loss to Team U.S.A. has shaken the team's confidence. One might think that their anxiety would transfer over to their fan base, but based upon the reactions from the crowd at Whistler's Brew House, the Canadian fans are already looking forward to a Wednesday match-up against Russia in the quarterfinals.
"I'm expecting nothing less than a 6-2 victory," said Mike O'Donnell, a native of New Brunswick who's lived in Boston for the past 20 years, where he attended Northeastern University and played varsity hockey and baseball.
"There's not a single player on the German team that would make me think twice about a Canadian victory."
Most of the onlookers were seeing the game as a tune-up for Russia, their only worry being that Canada might not beat Germany by enough. That, and the performance of goaltender Roberto Luongo, who wouldl replace Martin Brodeur, who's uncharacteristically poor performance has effectively moved him to the bench for the remainder of the Games.
Bobby Lou, as the Vancouver fans lovingly refer to Luongo, will likely ride the Olympics out as Canada's starting goaltender, a position that many fans thought he deserved from the beginning.
"Brodeur was handed the starting job because of his reputation, not because of his talent," said Chris Munro, who, along with Dave Munro, comprise Spy vs. Spy. The band played to the Brew House crowd prior to the game.
"Luongo is the better goaltender, he's younger, and he's playing to his home crowd (Vancouver)," Munro continued. "Now that he's been handed the reins, so to speak, I feel much more confident."
Regardless of the goaltending situation, most fans were in agreement that what Canada needs more than anything is a good thrashing.
"What they really need is to go out there and hand the Germans an 8-0 loss, or something like that," O'Donnell said. "They need to get the offense going, get their confidence back, and feel like they have a goalie back there that'll stop pucks when they need him to."
Heading into a quarterfinal against the Russians, the Canadians would definitely need their edge back. It seems like they've lost that swagger, that belief that they're the best team on the planet.
They'll need that back if they hope to challenge the Russians in the potential game tomorrow.
"If the Crosby line gets going, we'll be all right," Munro said.
The question is: what if it doesn't?

Stay tuned to www.snowseekers.ca/olympicnews for daily blogs, videos and more throughout the Olympics.

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