It was the marquee game of the World Paralympic Hockey Championship round robin, and it absolutely lived up to its advance billing.
With 2,784 fans filling the stands at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Wednesday night, Team Canada and the United States put on a barnburner of a contest, featuring tons of speed, even more skill and plenty of hard hits.
And while the U.S. would come away with a 3-0 victory that included an empty net goal, there was little question the two teams showed the kind of intensity they’re capable of -- and gave everyone in the building hope they’ll once again meet in the gold medal game on Sunday.
“I thought we had a really good start, the crowd was into it and there was a lot of excitement in the building,” said United States head coach David Hoff. “I thought the tempo between the two teams was really good, we generated a bit more in shots but it had to be a fun game for people to watch, and I think that was really cool tonight, it was a good environment.”
The U.S. got off to as solid a start as they could have hoped, holding Canada to only two shots in each of the first two periods and taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal by Brody Roybal with just over five minutes to play in the second.
Thing is, even though the U.S. was holding things down defensively, as the score would indicate, Canada was also getting the job done themselves.
That was in no small part due to the performance of goaltender Dominic Larocque, who made a handful of big saves through the first two periods and finished with 14 stops overall.
“It was a pretty good came, they know us pretty well and we know them pretty well and it’s always a tight game,” Larocque said. “It’s a new year for us, there are new guys on the team and it’s part of our process to build from games like this. Win or loss, we’ll learn from that game and we’ll hope to see them again.”
A major factor in how the U.S. was able to keep Canada in check was their ability to just come in waves, a product of the depth and skill that allows them to run all three lines on rotation.
“That was a great team win and I think we just wore them down,” Roybal said. “We just go out and play our game and don’t really worry about who we’re playing against. We knew if we played all three lines, our team is so deep at this point we can play anybody out there and we can compete with the best of them and that’s what we tried to do.”
Even with that advantage, though, Canada was able to get something going in the third period.
In addition to getting more shots on U.S. goaltender Jen Lee and finishing with nine in total, Canada was able to generate pressure and came within inches of snapping the shutout on a handful of occasions.
That was a source of pride for Team Canada captain Tyler McGregor.
“I think we got better as the game went on, and the thing we have to remind ourselves is that they don’t give out medals on Day 4 of a world championship, so we’ll reflect on tonight and look forward to our semifinal game,” he said.
“When you put on this jersey, you want to give absolutely everything you have and Ii think we demonstrated that tonight. So regardless of the outcome, we’re proud of our team and excited for the strides we took going on.”
Canada head coach Russ Herrington was of much the same opinion.
“The only thing we ask of our athletes is to lay it all out there and give us 100 per cent of what they have that particular day, and I think the ovation from the crowd at the end of the day tells you all you need to know,” he said. “Our players, that’s the type of effort we need every night to beat any country in the world let alone the best country in the world.”
McGregor even noticed a few tweeks that could help improve their outcome should the teams meet again.
“Our effort was outstanding, but we were a little hesitant at the bluelines chipping pucks out and chipping pucks in and I think that’s going to be extremely important,” he said. “We have the skating ability and fitness level to play with them, it’s just being really good at our bluelines and going on attack and just having that confidence and that belief to just make a really good hockey play and try and generate something… We started to really sense and feel that going on and that led to some chances.”
Jack Wallace scored the other goal for the United States in the third period and Travis Dodson finished things off with the empty-netter.
One thing both teams mentioned was the fan support. The largest crowd of the tournament showed up to support Canada, and with nearly 3,000 people in the building, the atmosphere was… well, we’ll let the guy who called for it describe it.
“Oustanding,” McGregor said with a huge grin. “I stood here 24 hours ago and shared my excitement for it and they showed up and did exactly what we needed. The energy was unbelievable and it was the best crowd I’ve played in front of on home ice. I imagine it’s the same for the other guys in the locker room other than a few who competed in Vancouver. They were amazing and hopefully that trend continues going on.”
Both Canada and the U.S. advance to the semifinals, and will await the quarter-final winners Saturday.
Thursday is the tournament’s rest and recovery day, with the quarters on Friday. Czechia faces Italy at 3 p.m. while China will take on Korea at 7 p.m.
Tickets are available at www.sasktix.ca.
