GDT: Canada vs Italy (02/15)

[PDO]

We're here! Puck drop at 7AM EST. Obviously not going to be a great game by any means, but I know I'm getting up to watch these men go at it!

Go Canada Go!

[Amoroq]

I'm going to miss the first period, by the time I return from dropping the heir to the throne off at the schoolbus it should be over. Don't expect Team Canada to let up as goal differential could mean playing a tougher team in the knock out round.

[TimmyTabasco]

4am?

Damn, I'll be sleeping

I'll have to catch the highlights of this thrilling game :thumb:

[J.R.]

Iginla scores the only goal in the first. If that's not shocking enough, Italy ties things early in the second. Then Heatley gives Canada the 2-1 lead right away. These Italians are posing a threat! Reminds me of Germany early in the 2002 tournament.

[Max Power]

Well it's 6-2 in the third and it's all but over. Canada looked lost in the first period but it's a trend we've all seen before. The refs are caling the game similar to NHL rules so Canada did have the advantage from the get go.
Bob and Kneel only referred to Team Canada as the leafs once so that?s good and every time McCabe hit the ice or touch the puck it was properly announced.. And MACCABE JUST STEPED ON THE ICE!!!

Just teasing leaf fans =]

[Madferret]

Sluggish start for Canada
Beat host Italy 7-2 in opener
Sun Media

TURIN, Italy -- With Wayne Gretzky looking on from a box high above the ice, Team Canada opened defence of its 2002 Olympic championship with a 7-2 victory over Italy today at the Palasport Olimpico arena.

Though Canada looked sluggish in the first period, likely a result of a hectic travel schedule that saw them practice in Toronto on Monday then a flight overnight to Turin and practice here Tuesday night, a five-goal second buried the valiant but over-matched Italians.

That his team was finally playing likely proved a relief for Gretzky, the executive director who faced a media storm when it was revealed his wife Janet was making sports wagers through a gambling ring allegedly run by Rick Tocchet, Gretzky's assistant coach with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes.

Jarome Iginla led Team Canada with two goals, while the line of Vincent Lecavalier between Tampa Bay teammate Martin St. Louis and Ottawa's Dany Heatley combined for six points.

Heatley and St. Louis each had a goal, while Shane Doan, Brad Richards and Joe Thornton scored the others. Canada outshot Italy 50-20.

"It was an okay game," Canada's goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "I know in (this round) people expect us to walk through everybody, and I guess we did to a certain extent in the second period, but we had a pretty good vibe, did well on the power-play."

Canada now plays Germany tomorrow and Switzerland on Saturday before their first real test Sunday against Finland.

Though they only arrived yesterday, Iginla said the 1 p.m. local start time was a blessing.

"I liked that it was an afternoon game and that we didn't have to think about it all day," said Iginla, and paid tribute to Italy, whose roster includes nine Canadians of Italian descent. "Italy skated well. They were very fired up and they're a talented quick-skating team.

"I don't know how it looked but it felt like a pretty quick period."

The pro-Italian crowd certainly appreciated their team's effort. The country hasn't played in the Olympic tournament since 1992 in Albertville and when Toronto's Jason Cirone beat Brodeur just 43 seconds into the second period with Heatley in the penalty box for charging, the crowd exploded in cheers. Giulio Scandella, who was born in Montreal, picked up the assist.

"He's from Montreal?" Montreal native Brodeur said with a smile when informed of Scandella's birth place. "Good."

The goal seemed to wake up the Canadians as they then scored three goals in five minutes and 21 seconds. Heatley made amends for his penalty by finishing off a pretty passing play from Lecavalier and St. Louis at the 1:55 mark. Shane Doan made it 3-1 three minutes and 43 seconds later and Iginla scored his second of the game on the power-play just 26 seconds after that.

Richards made it 6-1 before Sault Ste. Marie-born John Parco beat Brodeur with a one-timer at 18:08 of the second.

Italian goaltender Jason Muzzatti, a Toronto native who was a first-round pick of the Calgary Flames in 1988 who played 53 games with the Hartford Whalers in the mid-1990s, was proud of his team's performance.

"We were defeated but not humiliated and that's very important," said the 36-year-old who plays for HC Bolzano. "We were able to score a couple of goals and that was great."

While Muzzatto might find the NHLers old hat, others on the team appreciated the opportunity to play against the best.

"I didn't get a chance to play in the NHL. This is my Stanley Cup -- the Olympics," said Cirone, a 35-year-old who was a third-round draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 1989.

Brodeur said he appreciates their sentiment, but said the attention from opponents can sometimes make him feel embarrassed.

"It's flattering to an extent," he said. "I remember playing in a world championship against a team and one of the goalies, he was all in awe and I said 'You just played against me. Don't worry about it.'"

Earlier this morning, Sweden dispatched Kazakhstan, 7-2. Other games scheduled today see Switzerland play Finland, Germany against the Czech Republic, Russia vs. Slovakia and Latvia against the U.S. in the nightcap.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Olympics/2006Turin/Hockey/2006/02/15/iginla_bertuzzi250.jpg

http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20060215/heatley_33355.jpg

[Man.Utd]

And MACCABE JUST STEPED ON THE ICE!!!

Just teasing leaf fans =]

Why do you kid? That's is a toned down version of things, He made sure to mention McCabe's name on a fairly frequent basis. And he didn't even play well. He didn't have that same magic offensively he usually does with Toronto, and his defense was as always nothing to write home about. Weak on the 2nd Italien goal in particular.

Brodeur looked shaky and I'm glad Luongo will start the next game

Heatley pisses me off. I knew he had it in him. We all did. But we rarely go to see it. And just as I (and many others predicted) he's strutting his stuff for Canada as he always does. Dany needs to bring that same game to the rink in Ottawa. He's been useless for about 3 weeks now and has just as good linemates to work with. And he threw more hits in that game than I've seen out of him all year. When he got called for charging I was shocked. There's no way it could have been that same Dany Heatley I know from the ice at Scotia Bank Place. And what's this sudden willingness to forecheck with effort and drive to the net. Oh well, at least we get good odds at gold with him on his game. And maybe it'll carry over to the NHL.

Heatley - Lecavailler - St. Louis may be out best line this year based on early performance.

[PDO]

Watched the game, but don't remember the first period.. few things I noticed:

Quinn's an idiot. Stop ****ing with the lines by playing Draper and Doan, and let the Dmen actually have the same partner for more than one shift. Idiot.

Iginla and Bertuzzi were easily the best two Canadian forwards - Bertuzzi looked great, and showed exactly what I wanted him to be there.. how to go big guy ;)

Pronger was his usual studlike self on the point - maybe the east will finally give him some recognition now? Probably not, but he'll show why he's the best defenseman in the league.

Was extremely unimpressed with several guys.. Draper, Doan, McCabe, Brodeur, Foote all come to mind pretty quickly. Are they guys who I've been harsh on all along (minus Foote)? Yes. But none of them did anything to warrant shutting me up either.

What's with no second assist?

Love the ref cam.

Also.. was I the only one who caught how BRUTAL Cole was? He didn't even call a few of the goals. He sounded confused when Lecavalier set up Heatley. Pissed me off.

[PDO]

Here were the lines that Quinn used today...

Forwards:
Draper – Sakic – Iginla
Heatley – Lecavlier – St. Louis
Smyth – Richards – Bertuzzi
Nash – Thornton – Gagne
Doan – Richards – Bertuzzi
Doan – Sakic - Iginla

Can someone please, please PLEASE explain to me why the hell you'd put Draper with Sakic and Iginla? I can somewhat see leaving Doan there, but even that is a bit shaky. I'd like to see Gagne moved to a different line simply because we have 4 talented natural LW's (Heater, Smyth, Gagne, Nash) and I think that should be one of our strengths.

Heatley - Lecavalier - St. Louis
Smyth - Richards - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Sakic - Iginila
Nash - Thornton - Doan

Defence:
Redden – Foote
Bouwmeester – Regehr
McCabe – Pronger
Bouwmeester - Blake
Blake – Pronger

I think it's clear that Pronger and Redden are by far our best defenseman.. after that I'd say it's Regehr. That said, for ES..

Pronger - Regehr
Redden - Blake
Foote - McCabe
Bouwmeester

Thank god Luongo is starting next game.

A Pronger - Regehr comboination could easily eat up 20 minutes ES with near perfection, I'm not sure who the best partner for Redden is, given the performance of a few guys today (maybe Bouwmeester?) but I'm hoping with the horses we have on this team we use them. McCabe was terrible and proved he has no business being on this team, and really should be held to nothing more than PP time (and even then.. probably the 2nd unit)

[KB in Kelowna]

I assume the game or highlights will be rebroadcast tonight. I got up at 6:15 AM Pacific turned on the tv at about 6:30 and the game was over. I assume that they were sluggish at the start and that Bob and Harry were *cough-stellar-cough* in there play calling, and I see that PDO was satisfied with the line combos:pimp:

[Man.Utd]

I think it's clear that Pronger and Redden are by far our best defenseman.. after that I'd say it's Regehr. That said, for ES..

Though I agree with that statement whole-heartedly, Redden didn't impress me that much today. He can be much better than that, even if he wasn't particularily bad out there. Just sort of underwhelming considering what you see from him on a regular basis as a Sens fan. But:

- Playing with McCabe may have had something to do with it. He plays a shelfish type of game as evident by his point totals. It's great as the main man in T.O. and everything but has no place on Team Canada when there are lots of other options available. Espcially when you're not even really Team Canada calibre, but rather are here based on a few injuries on D. Perhaps Redden had to play more so to cover up mistakes than to actually be a force at both ends of the ice, and Wade's strength is to bring a smooth, two-way game to the ice with aplomb.

- Pronger was very good out there, but even being out East I've seen better from him based on the late games of HNIC. He didn't play the same type of underwhelming game I thought of Redden (relative to their great abilities of course), but at the same time I wouldn't have watched that game and labeled him a Norris candidate. In fact, nobody on Canada's team would have left me thinking they'd be award contenders in the best hockey league in the world. The Heatley - Lecavailler - St. Louis line came close at the best of moment, however. In Prongs case it may be the foot. I don't believe there's a player in the world capable of playing Norris-esque hockey on a broken foot.

It'a also important to remember that on a dream team like Canada's, you're never going to see all the big guns firing at once and at full capacity. Be it hockey, soccer, or basketball all-star teams always see some big names become rather quiet. Not liabilities, but no longer significant threates either. There's just not enough playing time etc to go around.

[PDO]

Well, for today I based all my comments relative to the play of the team. Going into today, I think everyone expected the boys to come out relatively sluggish - they had a long plane trip and an 8 hour time change; that's going to take its toll on anyone.

I'm inclined to agree that no one will all fire at once on this team, however someone will step up, and when I look at our blueline I see 3 defenseman who you could throw the word elite around with, and 4 who you simply can't. The same can't be said for our forwards (only 2 guys up there I don't consider elite are Draper and Doan) but with our D, if this team has any idea how to caoch I'd expect Pronger/Redden/Regehr to be the 3 studs on this team and to eat up the lions share of the tough minutes while posting the best results.

I really liked the line of Heatley - Lecavalier - St. Louis, though I didn't think St. Louis looked all that great. Heater and Vinny have shown chemistry together in the past (I beleive the World Cup?). I wouldn't mind trying Bertuzzi on that line.

[The Insider]

To be perfectly honest, game #1 is always a let down, it's tough to have a team come together as quickly as they have to in this tournament and expect them to play a flawless game. I thought that the game itself dragged at times, but this game was mostly a confidence builder and hopefully the team can take the positives out of the game and carry it on to the next one.

As for the individual performances, again it's tough to gauge based on how scrambled it is to get everyone on the same page and after a blowout like this one, I mean winning so handily, you can't really complain about who missed what assignment and who was off his game.

Good win, was glad to see the 1st 2 periods of the game and unfortunately will be at work tommorow and will miss the game, but looking forward to some more spirited competition on the weekend with some more talented opposition :thumb:

[Max Power]

Pronger was his usual studlike self on the point - maybe the east will finally give him some recognition now? Probably not, but he'll show why he's the best defenseman in the league.
.

Where does that come from?
I think most would agree Pronger is one of the best in the league. Even us jokers in the east =]

[Newfie John]

Yeah Pronger looked great on the point when he gave the puck away at the point on the PP and gave the Italian player a breakaway.:wicked:

[PDO]

Where does that come from?
I think most would agree Pronger is one of the best in the league. Even us jokers in the east =]

I'm referring to the Eastern media that has been slagging Pronger quite a bit and saying he's been under performing, etc.

John found one unlucky bounce and the guy with the broken foot was still our most effective defenseman by a mile ;)