So who did Russia lose to? What’s the secret to Canada’s success at the World Hockey Championship :: Hockey :: RBC Sport

Team Canada, after starting the Ice Hockey World Championship with three losses, eventually became the tournament winner. For the first time in history, gold medals went to a team that suffered four world championship losses. How and why this happened – in RBC material

The ice hockey world championship ended on Sunday evening. For the Russian national team, the tournament ended even earlier – at the quarter-final stage. The Russian team’s offenders were Canadians, who many did not consider a worthy opponent before the game. Even songwriter Alexander Rosenbaum has expressed his outrage over this. He said that “gentlemen, sports journalists <...> didn’t do our guys a favor. ”In the end, Canada won the gold medals.

The derogatory opinion of the hockey community about the current makeup of Canada’s squad was formed in large part on the basis of its debut in the tournament. For the first time in history, the team lost two matches at the start of the world championship. And how – first dry lost to Latvia (0: 2), then without any luck – the United States (1: 5).

But that wasn’t the end of the matter – after Germany’s 1: 3 loss, many abandoned Canada. And not only in Russia – even at home. “They dishonor the great power of hockey” – wrote fans on the Internet.

Canada has sometimes started the world championships poorly. Not with three defeats in a row, but real difficulties in the group stage. However, during the tournament, she improved. There is a rational explanation for this.

If the European teams devote a long and systematic preparation for the World Cup, the North American teams do not, since almost 100% are made up of NHL players, some of whom are exempt from closer Stanley Cup games. of the start of the world championship. . As a result, more or less complete, Canadians and Americans gather closer to the start of the tournament.

Before the start of the World Cup, Canada “had only two training sessions”. Team head coach Gérard Galland spoke the words during a post-semi-final press conference with the United States, explaining the transformation of the national team. Then “the players started to know each other better and to feel better and after the third game they started to show good hockey.”

The second reason Canada has traditionally added to the tournament is team building. Previously, the Canadians sometimes started the world championship with three liaisons, awaiting resupply. In 2021, the payoff was not massive, but Calgary forward Andrew Manjapane came to the national team. As a result, he became the tournament’s most valuable player and entered the token squad. In seven games, the forward has scored 11 points – seven goals and four assists.

Manjapane played his first game for the national team right after the loss to Germany. He became the clear leader – the missing piece the team was missing. From that point on, Canada’s ascent began – going forward, she suffered no losses in regulation, winning six out of seven matches.

To understand that at the beginning of the tournament there was a team from Canada, and in the playoffs – another, it suffices to compare the two meetings of the team with the USA. From 1: 5 in the group to 4: 2 in the semifinals, where the Americans looked decent only in the first half.

The dramatic changes in the Canadiens’ results cannot be explained solely by the teamwork that manifested itself during the tournament and the arrival of Manjapane. Weak players cannot win the world championship, even if the level of the tournament this year was not the highest.

In the lineup of the Canadians in Riga, 19 people represented the NHL, and only two of them were not players of the main teams. It’s clear they play for clubs in the strongest league in the world for a reason.

The Canadians managed to close the main positions with good players. Goalkeeper Darcy Kemper played against Russia in the 2018 World Cup. Defenseman Owen Power is the favorite in the upcoming NHL Draft. A good tournament was put on by 2019 World Championship silver medalist Detroit main defense Troy Stecher.

Three Manjapane – Adam Henrik – Connor Brown has become the leader. And it didn’t come out of nowhere: all three are the leaders of their clubs in the NHL. Manjapane is Calgary’s fourth goalscorer. Henrik is the fourth top scorer in Anaheim. Brown is second in Ottawa. They were taken to the team as leaders. They faced it and were recognized as Canada’s top players in the tournament.

Obviously, Canada did not have stars. But they were almost absent from the tournament in principle. As for the Canadians, they brought a strong and well-equipped national team to Riga, in which every player played a role.

The comparison of the national teams of Russia and Canada, on the one hand, will be in favor of the Russians. On the other hand, in favor of Canadians.

Canada lacked players at the doubles level of NHL’s top goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, as well as Stanley Cup winners – defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Vladimir Tarasenko. Bobrovsky, however, only managed to play one game in the tournament. And that is the advantage of Russia.

However, in the roster of Russia there were 17 world championship rookies, and among the Canadians, as already noted, most of the roster has experience playing in the NHL.

The Russian attack was almost entirely made up of KHL players, with the exception of Tarasenko, as well as far from stellar Mikhail Grigorenko and Alexander Barabanov. The first of the last season played 32 games for Columbus, the second – 13 games for Toronto and nine for San Jose. They are no better than most Canadian forwards.

As for the defense, it was close to the optimum. But, like the Canadiens, with the exception of Orlov, they were defensemen playing for underdogs in the NHL.

All of this suggests that Russia and Canada at the last World Championship had roughly equal teams in terms of strength. A 1: 1 draw in the main time of the quarter-final match seemed a logical outcome both in terms of what was happening on the ice and in terms of the strengths of the teams, and in overtime Canada had better used its chance.