Team Canada mens hockey cruises in opener

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Team Italy's goalie Jason Muzzatti and Bob Nardella react as Canada's Dany Heatley, background, celebrates after scoring their second goal of game during a 2006 Winter Olympics men's ice hockey match Wednesday in Turin, Italy. (Eric Risberg/AP)

Team Canada cruises in opener

Canadian Press

Turin ? Jarome Iginla scored twice as a travel-weary Team Canada dominated a plucky but overmatched Italy 7-2 to open the 2006 Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

Dany Heatley, Shane Doan, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards and Joe Thornton also scored for Canada, which did not look sharp despite the offensive barrage against an Italian team that has nine Canadian-born and two U.S.-born players.

Canada was playing only 27 hours after crossing six time zones to get to Turin. Still the Canadians had a 50-20 shot advantage on Italy, which is ranked 19th in the world by the IIHF.

Jason Cirone and John Parco replied for the Italians.

"There are a lot of Canadians on the team so they got a lot to prove," Todd Bertuzzi told CBC. "They came out hungry and they had a great crowd out there and a lot of great fans. It was an entertaining game."

It was a far cry from the stunning 5-2 loss to Sweden the Canadians suffered in the opening game of the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City before they recovered to win the gold medal.

But they will need to be sharper in their second round-robin game Thursday against Germany, which is missing NHL sharpshooters Jochen Hecht and Marco Strum but has Washington veteran Olaf Kolzig in goal.

The Italians, boosted by a chanting, flag-waving crowd at Palasport Olympico, put up a good fight in the first period, taking the body and going down to block shots to keep Canada at bay.

Canada converted its first power play of the game on a tic-tac-toe play 5:33 into the match from Joe Sakic at the right point to Bertuzzi in the corner to Iginla in the right circle for a quick shot that gave Jason Muzzatti, a Toronto native and former NHL goaltender, no chance for the save.

The crowd went wild as Italy tied the game with the man advantage on a power play 43 seconds into the middle period.

Montreal native Giulio Scandella's low shot was deflected between Martin Brodeur's pads by Cirone.

Only 1:12 later, Heatley finished a three-on-one rush with Vincent Lecavalier and St. Louis and the rout was on.

Doan spun and beat Muzzatti from the slot at 5:38 and Iginla got his second of the game on a power play shot through a perfect screen by Bertuzzi.

St. Louis cut in front to take Heatley's pass and score at 13:53 and Richards made it 6-1 from in close at 14:38.

Bertuzzi said there was no worry on the bench when Italy tied the game 1-1.

"Not at all, not with the amount of character we have," he said. "We know what we have to do, we came out strong in the second period, we kept building and building, our passes got better and we started scoring goals."

The Italians were on their feet again as Bryan McCabe batted the puck out of the air right to Tony Tuzzolito, who fed Parco, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for low shot that beat Brodeur.

Thornton scored on a long shot through traffic on a power play at 3:39 of the final period.

CP three stars: 1. Jarome Iginla; scored twice, back at home playing with Joe Sakic; 2. Todd Bertuzzi: A physical force in front of the net; 3. Martin St. Louis: Speed was too much for Italy.

Notes ? Canada named four alternate captains before the game ? Iginla, Rob Blake, Simon Gagne and Chris Pronger. Iginla and Pronger wore the A against Italy and Blake and Gagne will wear in Wednesday against Germany. Sakic is the captain . . . Following international tradition, Sakic and Italian captain Joe Busillo of Toronto exchanged team pennants before the game.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ory/Sports/home

[R-Flex]

Awesome. Too bad the games are at the wrong time zones for us to see, but I will stay up for the gold medal game.

[Commodore Max]

I'm very confident about the Canadian team. I'm pretty sure they'll repeat the Salt Lake City experience. :)

[User6060]

go canada!

[bigbluepride35]

Well, it was[/i] Italy lol. Yeah considering the Russians might play the game of their lives or just look like a bunch of amateurs on any given night, the U.S. can't beat Latvia, and the Czechs lost Hasek I think Canada's path to a repeat has become a lot easier. Not that I expected much for the U.S. anyway but the Czechs were a much more serious contender with Hasek.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Well, it was[/i] Italy lol. Yeah considering the Russians might play the game of their lives or just look like a bunch of amateurs on any given night, the U.S. can't beat Latvia, and the Czechs lost Hasek I think Canada's path to a repeat has become a lot easier. Not that I expected much for the U.S. anyway but the Czechs were a much more serious contender with Hasek.

In addition to the shock of Latvia tying the United States 3-3, Russia lost to Slovakia 5-3.

I guess we are all relieved that Canada didn't lose the first game like they did in 2002. That was the game that caused CuJo to be pulled and Brodeur installed as the new #1 goalie.

5 of the 7 US defencemen are over 35. Yikes!

[BroChaos Veteran]

pretty good first day of hockey if you asked me. i missed canada's game, but caught 3 others. the US game was very exciting. and seeing russia go down was a suprise. you never know who might pull an upset...

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Well, there certainly is more parity in the men's hockey games than the women's.

[bigbluepride35]

Well, there certainly is more parity in the men's hockey games than the women's.

Yup and just like I said in the thread on the women's tournament that's what makes the men's tournament more exciting to watch. I mean even the Italian men's team put up somehwat of a fight against arguably the favorite for the gold medal lol. No 16-0 blowout.

Edited February 16, 2006 by bigbluepride35

[crimsonhead]

Hmm.. Strange that Canada should do good in hockey. :rolleyes:

[qdave]

^why? canada is hockey nation :D

anyway our team did quite good today :)

i hope though that germans will win tomorow. (yeah i am not patriotic, but there is nothing to fear since everyone knows that canada will win)

russia played shamefully today! and i am exeptionally happy for latvian team :D

[rvbfan]

Now if Iginla would only score like that for the Flames this year.

[crimsonhead]

^why? canada is hockey nation :D

That was my point. :whistle:

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Team Canada's Wade Redden scores the first goal against Germany goaltender Thomas Greiss during first period hockey action at the 2006 Winter Olympic Thursday. (Ryan Remiorz/CP)

Canada takes care of business

Canadian Press

Turin, Italy ? Wade Redden, Joe Sakic and Simon Gagne scored in the first period as thCanadian men's hockey team coasted to a 5-1 victory over Germanyb> for its second straight decisive win at the Winter Olympics.

Dany Heatley and Shane Doan also scored for Canada, which looked a little sharper and more energetic than in Wednesday's 7-2 win over host Italy.

Defenceman Christian Ehrhoff scored in the second period for Germany.

The Germans opted to rest veteran goaltender Olaf Kolzig in favour of Thomas Greiss, a 20-year-old German league player who looked nervous while allowing three goals on nine first-period shots before settling down to make 17 saves in the second frame.

Canada outshot Germany 40-12 overall.

Germany, which lost its opener 4-1 to the Czech Republic, elected to save Kolzig for games this weekend against Italy and Switzerland, which it sees as key to qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Canadian flags were prominent among the crowd of 8,554 in the nearly soldout Palasport Olympic for what turned out to be a methodical Canadian win interrupted frequently for penalties called by Swedish referee Christer Larking.

Adam Foote had to slide to make a save on Lasse Kopitz after Roberto Luongo was caught out of the net and on the ensuing counterattack, Gagne fed Redden to beat Greiss between the pads 4:52 into the game.

The Germans missed another good chance late in the period when Marcel Goc ripped a shot off a goalpost.

Sakic fired Rick Nash's rebound in at the side of the net on a power play at 7:29 and Gagne outworked a defender to slide a loose puck in at 10:49 with each team short a player.

The Canadians came out sluggish in the second period and the Germans made them pay as Ehrhoff scored on a wrist shot from the top of the slot with the teams' playing four-on-four at 9:13.

Germany then killed off a two-man Canadian advantage for 1:42 in which Greiss excelled.

It looked as if the Germans might get back into the game, but Canada stepped up the tempo and got the goal back as Heatley batted the rebound of Foote's shot off the end boards out of the air into an open net. The goal stood up after video review.

Doan circled the net and scored on a wrist shot with 34 seconds left in the game.

Canadian defenceman Bryan McCabe was sent off for 12 minutes early in the third period for a hit from behind into the boards that left forward Tino Boos holding an icepack over his left eye on the bench.

The Germans have five NHL players, with two more who are missing the tournament with injuries ? Jochen Hecht and Marco Sturm. The rest play in European leagues.

Notes: Canada wore stark black uniforms with only a trace of the national colours, red and white, in bars down the side of the jersey. The men's and women's game-worn black jerseys are to be auctioned on eBay from Feb. 16 to Feb. 26 to raise money for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic hockey programs. ... The Germans have one Canadian-born player, defenceman Robert Leask, 34, of Toronto, who has played for three AHL clubs in his career. ... Canada is (87-20-7) all-time against Germany.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...2006/Torino2006

[Detroit]

yes!

[Nocstar]

Wow Canada is owning in Hockey right now, right on!

Its fun to see them play It's like watching an all star team.

[BroChaos Veteran]

don't even get me started on womens hockey....i've never seen such a lopsided sport.

congrats to the teams that won today. usa looked a little better, but weren't dominating by any means.

[Kreuger]

Hopefully the men win today

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Hopefully the men win today

The men's game against the Swiss is on CBC right now. 15 minutes into the first, no score.

[Allan]

The men's game against the Swiss is on CBC right now. 15 minutes into the first, no score.

Keep me update would ya? I'm at work!!!!

Secondly ... what is the time difference between them and us? is it 6 or 8 hrs that we're (Eastern time) behind Italy?

Allan

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Keep me update would ya? I'm at work!!!!

Secondly ... what is the time difference between them and us? is it 6 or 8 hrs that we're (Eastern time) behind Italy?

Allan

I believe it is 6 hours. The Swiss (men's hockey) are up 1-0 after 1 period.

[Tran]

Hopefully we'll pick up the tempo and start scoring some goals. It's only a 1 goal deficit but still, I would rather prefer if we were taking the lead.

[Allan]

Hmm.. Strange that Canada should do good in hockey. :rolleyes:

^why? canada is hockey nation :D

anyway our team did quite good today :)

i hope though that germans will win tomorow. (yeah i am not patriotic, but there is nothing to fear since everyone knows that canada will win)

russia played shamefully today! and i am exeptionally happy for latvian team :D

Yes ... Hockey IS Canada's sport ... just watch CBC (Canadian Broadcater) on Saturday Night for ...

Hockey Night in Canada (insert theme music here)

[Allan]

Thanks Fred!!!

Hopefully we'll pick up the tempo and start scoring some goals. It's only a 1 goal deficit but still, I would rather prefer if we were taking the lead.

No need to hope, just belive. It'll be like a Chuck Norris roundhouse :p ...

[Fred Derf Veteran]

It is now a 2 goal deficit. Grr. Both goals by Paul DiPietro.