Team Canada worried about semifinal date with U.S.? Not a chance: Feschuk

SOCHI, RUSSIA—Maybe somewhere underneath all that equipment, they were wearing their nation’s worry strapped to their backs.

But when Canada’s men’s hockey team met for practice in the lead-up to Friday’s Olympic semifinal against the United States, they were hardly slouching under the weight of a burdened existence.

The sun was shining through the rink’s windows. Out in the near distance you could see the beach and the sea. And out on the ice there was, as usual with this group, incredible action and faces that looked happy to be playing in such rare company.

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Let’s take a snapshot of the in-the-moment joyousness: Jonathan Toews, one of 10 Team Canada forwards that hasn’t scored a goal in the opening four games of these Olympics, was on a power-play unit on Thursday when he scored twice in about 20 seconds. Upon potting the second goal, a backhanded deke, he raised his arms in purposely over-dramatic celebration. He mock-hugged Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron, who happened to be standing nearby. He pumped a fist.

It was a practice drill, sure. But that was Carey Price in net, and those were Canada’s best lockdown defencemen putting up full-speed resistance. When you’re on a team this good, you might as well make practice goals a confidence booster.

“This is what it’s all about,” Toews said. “Canada-U.S.A. It’s becoming an even bigger rivalry than Canada-Russia. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Said Drew Doughty: “We’re having a blast. It kind of sucks that in four days this is all over and we’ve got to head back to North America.”

It could be over, competitively at least, on Friday. While Doughty took exception to the idea that the Canadians are the underdogs, the fact is the Americans have looked like the most dangerous team in the tournament to date. The U.S.’s shootout win over Russia in the preliminary round stands as a defining moment of these Games. And a surface look at Canada’s 2-1 escape against Latvia in the quarter-finals doesn’t exactly convince the world that the defending gold medallists are a dominating force.

But Canada is convinced it’ll be different against their fellow NHLers from below the 49th when they meet on Friday for the right to play for gold. Maybe the team Crosby captains hasn’t been running up the score against muck-it-up Euro units. Then again, those defence-first game plans have helped Canada limit opponents to a combined three goals in four games.

In other words: You may fret about Canada’s lack of frontline scoring as much as you like. But Babcock has been saying from the get-go that this tournament will be won with defence. And if it’s defence you’re handicapping in the lead-up to Friday’s game — well, Canada’s has been by far the tournament’s superior beast.

The U.S. defensive corps, in contrast, could be something of a weak spot. While Dan Bylsma, the U.S. coach, said he’s planning for a 2-1 game, Canada has the talent on the back end to actually make such a thing happen in its favour.

“I’m not second-guessing anything,” said Crosby. “I’m playing, I’m reacting and trusting that it’s going to go in. And sometimes it feels like it’s not going in very easily. But usually it just takes one . . . ”

Babcock, who spent part of Thursday taking in Jennifer Jones’s gold-medal curling win — “The curling has been fantastic” — has been unfailingly positive about his team’s work here. While a nation carries around a load of worry, its surrogates on the ground here are indulging in life’s lighter sides.

“I can spend a lot of time worrying if I wanted to,” Babcock said. “I think we’re going to score. I think we’ve won every game we’ve played. That’s going to be the goal again tomorrow. You can talk scoring chances till you’re blue in the face, who cares? The score is on the board, and so we’ve just got to find a way to keep doing what we’re doing. I thought our confidence on our bench (against Latvia) was fantastic. I thought our plan was good, I thought we stuck with it. In the end we found a way to get a win. I’m a big believer in adversity. I think the more you fight through, the better you get.”

Canada’s best hockey players took the opportunity to battle each other on Thursday afternoon. Practice was fast, fast, fast — watching this team go against itself is a sight to behold.

Assistant coach Ken Hitchcock let out a heartfelt, “Hey!” when, on another run through the power play, Doughty scored a couple of goals in a row. And nearly every time a puck got behind a goaltender, the success was acknowledged.

It was the sound of confidence. It was a celebration of a moment. It was an acknowledgement that, no matter what happens from here on out, only a few of these precious snapshots remain.