Giroux, Team Canada on World Cup mission
Playing for a hockey-crazed country, Team Canada has one mission in the forthcoming World Cup. Finishing second is "not even a question," Flyers center Claude Giroux said.
Playing for a hockey-crazed country, Team Canada has one mission in the forthcoming World Cup.
Finishing second is "not even a question," Flyers center Claude Giroux said.
In other words, nothing less than a gold medal is acceptable to the players and their fans.
Giroux is on a Canada team that is so deep that he is expected to play on the fourth line.
And Corey Perry, a six-time 30-goal scorer who had 32 tallies for Anaheim last season, may not even crack the lineup.
Oh, Canada.
When the eight-team tournament begins next Saturday - it runs through Oct. 1 in Toronto and will be televised on ESPN - Canada will be the heavy favorite.
Russia, Sweden, and the United States figure to be Canada's toughest challengers.
"It's important that we go in there with the mentality that we want to win and we know it's not going to be easy," Giroux said. "There's a lot of good teams there. It's going to be a challenge, but a fun one, too."
The four centers are expected to be Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf, Chicago's Jonathan Toews, and Giroux or San Jose's Joe Thornton. Giroux or Thornton will play right wing.
Crosby is projected to center Boston stars Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, while Getzlaf might center John Tavares and Steven Stamkos.
Other projections: Toews centering Logan Couture and Tyler Seguin, and Giroux centering Matt Duchene and Thornton. (Again, Thornton and Giroux could flip-flop positions.)
Canada's defense will be anchored by Drew Doughty, Shea Weber, and Brent Burns.
The goaltending may be the best in the eight-team field, composed of Carey Price, Braden Holtby and Corey Crawford. Price was sidelined most of last season with a knee injury.
"I don't have any question marks about my health or my body," Price told reporters before playing in Friday's exhibition against Team USA in Columbus. The teams will also meet in an exhibition Saturday night in Ottawa (ESPN3).
Team Europe. While Canada is the favorite, Team Europe - which includes the Flyers' Mark Streit and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - could finish at the bottom of the pack in the gifted field.
Bellemare is expected to receive time as a penalty killer.
"It's the path I took to be able to be an NHL player, and I really love that role," he said.
Europe is the tournament's biggest underdog.
"Most of the other nations, their players have played together," said Bellemare, one of seven Flyers competing in the World Cup. "For most of us, it will be the first time we're together. That will be the biggest challenge for us."
Europe will be led by Anze Kopitar and Zdeno Chara.
Breakaways. Phantoms center Cole Bardreau, a scrappy player regarded as a third- or fourth-line NHL player down the road, will miss the Flyers' training camp because of recent abdominal surgery. He fractured his neck while playing for Cornell in 2013 and was nearly paralyzed. . . . Team USA includes former Flyer James van Riemsdyk, who is penciled in as the fourth-line left winger.
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