Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Marcus Hayes: Norway falls between the U.S. and Canada

VANCOUVER - It might be a bit soon to think about USA vs. Canada hockey, but, hey, Team USA started early.

The U.S. easily beat Norway ahead of its big showdown with Canada. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)
The U.S. easily beat Norway ahead of its big showdown with Canada. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)Read more

VANCOUVER - It might be a bit soon to think about USA vs. Canada hockey, but, hey, Team USA started early.

Right about the second period yesterday, in fact.

"I think our guys were guilty, at times, of looking past Norway and thinking about our big game Sunday against Canada," said U.S. coach Ron Wilson.

He couldn't blame them. He didn't blame them.

His boys, young and fast, were battering the Norwegians, a pre-marquee, 6-1 victim, a team of players without a current NHL stick among them. The Americans pounded Team Norway into the boards, created a crushing forecheck, outshot it by 15-2, hit the post three times and led, 2-0.

They looked ready for the Canadians, their opponent in the hyped Sunday afternoon battle. It is only a preliminary-round game, but it could be a preview of a border war that will determine a medal.

They looked ready, and then . . . whoosh.

"We probably should have scored four or five goals," Wilson said. "Like any young team, we thought the rest of the game would be easy."

It wasn't easy. Inevitable, but not easy.

"We were very lucky," Wilson said.

Not lucky, either; just a lot better.

"Their hard forechecking surprised us," Norway coach Roy Johansen said.

An 8-0 loser to Canada on Tuesday, Johansen - whose team shut out Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla and the rest of the favored Canadians in the first period - served as an expert analyst.

"Canada was more physical," Johansen said. "USA is faster. And they forechecked harder."

Too hard, perhaps. They gave up about half-dozen outnumbered attacks against Norway, to Wilson's dismay. But goalie Ryan Miller was equal to them all, to Wilson's delight.

Wilson groused about lax discipline. He fretted about overpassing and poor movement on the 1-for-5 power play. He grumbled about one-on-one improvisation by this assemblage of stars whose teammates, thrown together this week in the middle of an NHL season, cannot anticipate what will come after an unnecessarily slick move.

Forgive Wilson and his players their concern. They know they cannot afford sloppy play Sunday.

"We gave them too many opportunities," Zach Parise said. "We're past the learning phase."

Come Sunday, they're in the evaluation phase - as in, can they approach the Canadians, not to mention Alex Ovechkin and the dangerous Russians?

"It's a game where you want to make a statement against a team that's favored to win the tournament," said punishing forward David Backes, who had a signature assist yesterday and a goal Tuesday in a 3-1 win against a Swiss team that Canada needed a shootout to beat yesterday. "It's another level."

A higher level.

Norway scored a shorthanded goal midway through the second period, a sniper shot from Marius Holtet past Miller's stick hand that glanced off the post and in.

Even then, during a sluggish second period, the U.S. attack was smothering.

But nothing like the first period, when crisp passing and simple execution all the way up and down the bench took the Norwegians' breath away.

Wilson saved his scant praise for the fourth line, led by the bruising Backes, who began the play that typified the afternoon's recurring, if fractured, theme.

With just under 7 minutes left in the first period Backes hustled to his left to keep a drifting puck in the Norwegians' zone. Backes snapped a perfect pass to Ryan Callahan, who let loose a hard shot. Pal Grotnes saved it, but Chris Drury stuffed in the rebound for a 2-0 lead.

"They were successful because they played a standard, NHL, north-south game," Wilson said. "We were getting away from that with the other lines. For some reason . . . we wanted to put a little whipped cream on top of the plays they were making."

"[Backes] kept it simple," said linemate Bobby Ryan. "That's indicative of what we need to do."

Ryan, a Cherry Hill kid, spoke through freshly chipped incisors, the result of a cheap shot in the third period from the stick of Norway's captain, Tommy Jakobsen.

Ryan didn't leave the game. He showed heart and hunger and focus.

Will he and the rest of the team show the same Sunday? Will they overcome their unfamiliarity with limited ice time, shorter shifts, and unequaled pressure?

Wilson isn't sure. He shook up the lines in the last 10 minutes, moving Patrick Kane, normally a center, off the wing on the first line and replacing him with captain Jamie Langenbrunner, to afford Parise and Paul Stastny more touches. Kane will likely join Bobby Ryan and Ryan Kesler (seven Ryans on one team!).

Wilson seeks chemistry. They have 2 days to experiment, and then . . . showtime.

"It's going to be interesting to see where they are, emotionally . . . You have to maintain your composure . . . Every TV in Canada is going to be watching. Because it's on Sunday, a good many in the United States - anybody who's a hockey fan - will be watching that game.

"I'm anticipating one of the best atmospheres I've been in since the third game of the '96 World Cup."

Wilson coached that U.S. team that beat Canada, 5-2, with a flurry of late goals to win the best-of-three finale in Montreal.

If he anticipates Sunday will match that atmosphere, imaging, then, what it might be like the following Sunday, if these two teams meet again for gold.

It's way too early to start thinking about that game. Right?

Send e-mail to hayesm@phillynews.com