VANCOUVER, Canada—With the Olympic men’s hockey tournament just underway, it’s worth analyzing Sunday’s clash between Canada and the U.S.
The last time the two met in Olympic competition was 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the gold medal game with Canada coming up on the winning end. Quite a rivalry has been building between the two neighboring nations both at the professional and junior level.
While Sidney Crosby and Russia’s Alex Ovechkin are the headliners of this tournament, the U.S. isn’t short on talent as young and inexperienced as its roster is.
Jeremy Roenick, Mike Modano, and Doug Weight carried the load for the old guard and players like Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel, and Zach Parise must do the same for the this generation, according to hockey analyst and ex-NHL coach Barry Melrose.
“These guys have to put the puck in the net. They have to do what Modano did and Roenick did, and Dougie Weight did. They are the future of United States hockey,” Melrose told ESPN.com.
“They’re all great young players and now we’re going to see them on the world stage.”
Both Canada and the U.S. can put the puck in the net and have their fair share of physically imposing players. The U.S. roster features the likes of Ryan Malone, David Backes, and Erik Johnson, all of who stand at least 6’2” and tip the scales at least 220 lbs.
Canada isn’t composed of smurfs either with the likes of Joe Thornton, Shea Weber, Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Pronger, and Brent Seabrook fitting similar physical attributes. They’re certainly not averse to playing physically either.
Canada has strong goaltending in the form of the 1-2 punch of Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo and the States aren’t too shabby with Ryan Miller and Tim Thomas.
The Canadian team is a good mixture of newcomers and veterans with players like Brodeur, Luongo, Jarome Iginla, team captain Scott Niedermayer, Pronger, Dany Heatley, Rick Nash, and Thornton all with previous Olympic experience.
That bodes well for youngsters like Getzlaf, Sidney Crosby, Duncan Keith, Weber, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Toews, and Corey Perry.
The story is different for the U.S. as only New York Ranger Chris Drury, New Jersey Devil Jamie Langenbrunner and Detroit Red Wing Brian Rafalski have any Olympic experience while the rest of the team consists of greenhorns.
There’s nothing like a good rivalry in sports, whether it be the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, or Canada and the U.S. in international hockey competition.
This Sunday is truly a dream day for the fan of international hockey. With Canada facing the U.S., Russia facing the Czechs, and Nordic neighbors Sweden and Finland squaring off, it doesn’t get much better.
But for NHL fans, Canada and the U.S. is something special.
The last time the two met in Olympic competition was 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the gold medal game with Canada coming up on the winning end. Quite a rivalry has been building between the two neighboring nations both at the professional and junior level.
While Sidney Crosby and Russia’s Alex Ovechkin are the headliners of this tournament, the U.S. isn’t short on talent as young and inexperienced as its roster is.
Jeremy Roenick, Mike Modano, and Doug Weight carried the load for the old guard and players like Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel, and Zach Parise must do the same for the this generation, according to hockey analyst and ex-NHL coach Barry Melrose.
“These guys have to put the puck in the net. They have to do what Modano did and Roenick did, and Dougie Weight did. They are the future of United States hockey,” Melrose told ESPN.com.
“They’re all great young players and now we’re going to see them on the world stage.”
Both Canada and the U.S. can put the puck in the net and have their fair share of physically imposing players. The U.S. roster features the likes of Ryan Malone, David Backes, and Erik Johnson, all of who stand at least 6’2” and tip the scales at least 220 lbs.
Canada isn’t composed of smurfs either with the likes of Joe Thornton, Shea Weber, Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Pronger, and Brent Seabrook fitting similar physical attributes. They’re certainly not averse to playing physically either.
Canada has strong goaltending in the form of the 1-2 punch of Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo and the States aren’t too shabby with Ryan Miller and Tim Thomas.
The Canadian team is a good mixture of newcomers and veterans with players like Brodeur, Luongo, Jarome Iginla, team captain Scott Niedermayer, Pronger, Dany Heatley, Rick Nash, and Thornton all with previous Olympic experience.
That bodes well for youngsters like Getzlaf, Sidney Crosby, Duncan Keith, Weber, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Toews, and Corey Perry.
The story is different for the U.S. as only New York Ranger Chris Drury, New Jersey Devil Jamie Langenbrunner and Detroit Red Wing Brian Rafalski have any Olympic experience while the rest of the team consists of greenhorns.
There’s nothing like a good rivalry in sports, whether it be the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, or Canada and the U.S. in international hockey competition.
This Sunday is truly a dream day for the fan of international hockey. With Canada facing the U.S., Russia facing the Czechs, and Nordic neighbors Sweden and Finland squaring off, it doesn’t get much better.
But for NHL fans, Canada and the U.S. is something special.
