USA-Canada matchup looks like tossup
Based on Thursday’s action, Team USA might not be such a big underdog against mighty Canada in Sunday night’s Olympic showdown. Fact is, host Canada was fortunate to get past lowly Switzerland Thursday night. Switzerland defenseman Luca Sbisa, a former Flyer, was sensational, and his goalie, Jonas Hiller, was even better. But it couldn’t prevent Switzerland from dropping a 3-2 shoot-out to heavily favored Canada. Sidney Crosby scored the deciding goal in the shoot-out, giving Team Canada two of a possible three points. Canada will meet Team USA Sunday night to decide the Group A title, with the winner earning a quarterfinal bye. Team Canada dominated Thursday’s game, but Hiller, the Anaheim Ducks’ standout, kept the Swiss in the game. Canada was 1 for 7 on the power play. The Flyers’ Chris Pronger and Mike Richards did not figure in the scoring. Richards was used sparingly. Switzerland had dropped a 3-1 decision to Team USA Tuesday. Team USA, primarily composed of young energetic players, wasn’t overly sharp in its 6-1 win over Norway Thursday; it scored three late goals to pull away from a 3-1 lead. Canada had defeated Norway, 8-0. As for Sunday, I'll go with Canada in a 3-2 nailbiter. How do you see the game unfolding?
USA-Canada matchup looks like tossup
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Based on Thursday’s action, Team USA might not be such a big underdog against mighty Canada in Sunday night’s Olympic showdown.
Fact is, host Canada was fortunate to get past lowly Switzerland Thursday night.
Switzerland defenseman Luca Sbisa, a former Flyer, was sensational, and his goalie, Jonas Hiller, was even better.
But it couldn’t prevent Switzerland from dropping a 3-2 shoot-out to heavily favored Canada.
Sidney Crosby scored the deciding goal in the shoot-out, giving Team Canada two of a possible three points.
Canada will meet Team USA Sunday night to decide the Group A title, with the winner earning a quarterfinal bye.
Team Canada dominated Thursday’s game, but Hiller, the Anaheim Ducks’ standout, kept the Swiss in the game. Canada was 1 for 7 on the power play.
The Flyers’ Chris Pronger and Mike Richards did not figure in the scoring. Richards was used sparingly.
Switzerland had dropped a 3-1 decision to Team USA Tuesday.
Team USA, primarily composed of young energetic players, wasn’t overly sharp in its 6-1 win over Norway Thursday; it scored three late goals to pull away from a 3-1 lead.
Canada had defeated Norway, 8-0.
As for Sunday, I'll go with Canada in a 3-2 nailbiter. How do you see the game unfolding?
Canada is obviously playing in front of the home crowd, which could swing things in their favor, but it's also a ton of pressure on them to play well. Wouldn't be surprised to see team USA capitalize early with all that speed and forechecking, and Miller to save enough of thier mistakes. 4-3 USA— HockeyAdam22- Maybe Canada should stop running the Heatley-Thornton-Marlowe line. It may work in San Jose, but for as much as I heard their three names throughout the entire game, they didn't produce much offense beyond Heatley's first goal. Also, didn't former-Flyer Luca Sbisa look good tonight for Switzerland? I think I heard his name as much as I heard Crosby's.— bpkrier
- Luca Sbisa looked great. Wish we would still have him on the Flyers roster. He's going to be a really good player.— Flyers37
- Sbisa was amazing. Just a shame CNBC's picture is so fuzzy. It might as well been in black and white. Hiller had some amazing stops. But Canada was really tight. They reminded me of the Flyers when they get into goal scoring slumps. They were holding their sticks too tight. That being said, it was one of the best games I have seen in a while. The shootout is so anti-climatic. I would have been fine with a draw or another 3 periods of play like that.— AreaMan
- 5-3 Canada.— phillyfan412
Could have been a classic "trap" game for Canada, which they DID win. Look for a better effort from Canada against USA- this is the REAL game Canada is focussed on.— road515
agree with Flyers37 - of the 2, Pronger and Sbisa, Sbisa looked better last night. Area - once you watch hockey in HD there's no going back.— potus- Do you think Bettman is smart enough to realize that HD is the best thing to ever happen to hockey? Nah, he will just keep thinking that everybody in the nation wants to see Crosby every weekend.— AreaMan
- Gawd, anybody but Crosby. Pullease. Thinking 5-2 or 5-3 Canada. Just hope no one gets hurt.— Oldehawks
- as much as i hate to go against USA... Canada is going to win convincingly 5-2— talktoya
What about Russia? are people forgetting that there are other contenders is these games? Finland, Sweden?— Inchon- Every major tournament Canada has that one game where they face adversity early and it becomes a wake up call. The coaching staff was irrate with the Canadian players in between periods. The next two days will allow Canada to wake up and realize they need to get a little nasty edge in their game. I think Sunday will be a blow out, the Canadians are mad, 6-2 Canada.— Fabulous
- Russia lost to Slovakia last night too! What a crazy night of hockey. This was the wakeup call Canada needed, they should take out the US 5-1.— kozykoz26
Canada was guilty of looking past the Swiss. Hiller was amazing. I think that they were focused on THIS game. On the flip side, this game vs. the Swiss could have shaken their Confidence a bit. If they had any insecurities about choking, they will either grip that stick too tight or come out Guns ablazing.— flyler- Will it be Brodeur or Luongo in net? Either way, this will be a fun game to watch. BTW, there are HD channels for all the NBC olympic coverage. Not sure if everyone gets them, but for me in the 817-822 range they are all there. Looks good, a little bit of screen jaggies every now and then, but much better than regular broadcast.— mikemcnhl
