Canada rallies late to win the World Cup of Hockey
TORONTO — As the Canadians trailed Team Europe 1-0 late in the third period, with time draining from the clock, winger Patrice Bergeron said it wasn’t a matter of “if” they would come from behind.
It was a matter of “when” and who the hero was going to be.
“It was always, ‘one shot away,’ ” Bergeron said. “It’s always ‘who wants to be that guy?’ And there’s so many guys in this dressing room who want to be in that position. We have so much talent in this dressing room that we knew all we needed was one bounce to go our way.”
That’s the attitude that makes Canada the world’s hockey superpower. It’s why the Canadians won the World Cup of Hockey with a 2-1 come-from-behind win against Team Europe. It’s why they have gone 12-0 in the past two best-on-best tournaments — the Sochi Olympics and the World Cup. It’s why they are the reigning champions in the Olympics (2014), World Championships (2016) and the World Cup of Hockey (2016).
The Canadians outscored opponents 24-8 over six games in the World Cup, but they needed a tying power-play goal by Bergeron with 2:53 left in regulation and a game-winning short-handed goal from Brad Marchand with 44 seconds remaining to claim the win.
“All tournament the talk has been that there hasn’t been a whole lot of challenges for our team,” said Canada center Jonathan Toews, who set up the game-winner. “That’s what it looks like from the outside. You ask around our team and that’s not necessarily the case. We worked hard to give ourselves the opportunity to play for (title) today. If there ever was a test for us, it was (in Game 2). Team Europe did everything in their power to take away our strengths. We had to stay patient and calm until we could find a way to break through.”
Team Europe was the tournament's biggest surprise. The Europeans pushed the Canadians, but they couldn’t break them.
“I think we left everything on the table,” said European captain Anze Kopitar. “I’m really proud of this team because everyone thought we would be the laughing joke of this tournament.”
The Europeans had players from eight different countries, and somehow coach Ralph Krueger transformed them into a cohesive, tight-checking team.
"The way it turned out at the end is very painful," Krueger said. "But you need to open your eyes to the big picture and the journey. How we played was amazing. They played their hearts out. ... We beat the odds and we turned this into a helluva final, which nobody expected."
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Sidney Crosby won the MVP Award after leading the Canadians with 10 points in six games. He joins Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr as the only players to be named MVP of an NHL regular-season, the NHL playoffs and a World Cup or Canada Cup.
“In the biggest moments, (Crosby) turns it up,” Canada coach Mike Babcock said.
The same can said about the Canadians. A reporter pointed out that the Canadians didn’t seem to be at their best in either championship series game against Team Europe.
“The perception is that we're miles better than everybody else,” Babcock said. “We're deeper, but you can only play five guys at a time."
The pressure on Canada to win is always exhausting. In Canada, finishing second in hockey in unacceptable. "You can say anything you want about the game, but we delivered,” Babcock said.
Because they have won so often, the Canadians expect to win every game. That is who they are, and why they succeed.
“Our players believed we were going to win,” Babcock said. “And I thought they really turned it up.”
